Recent Responses
In a good philosophical argument, must the premises be highly plausible, or merely more plausible than their negations, and must the conclusion be highly plausible, or merely more plausible than its negation? Thanks.
Andrew Pessin
July 19, 2012
(changed July 19, 2012)
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It's a "good" question, suffering only from the very common problem that all its terms are rather vague! ... Surely you want your premises to be more plausible than their negations, but wouldn't it be rather arbitrary to define "good" by that cut-off point? I mean we could ... but what would be... Read more
To what extent is one responsible for how accomplished one can be in life? Many assume that hard work is all that is needed. Personally i'm in college, and i've been getting A's because of hard work. I am however almost tormented by the thought that alot of my childhood was spent doing pretty much nothing. John Stuart Mill was fluent in Latin and Greek by the time he was twelve or so, because he was pushed so hard by his father. Mill was an accomplished man off course, and most people could not do the same things as he did even if they worked hard later in life. Should one just give up trying to excel academically if one has not had a privileged childhood as he did?
Miriam Solomon
July 19, 2012
(changed July 19, 2012)
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John Stuart Mill was a childhood prodigy, as you say, but in later adolescence he suffered a "nervous breakdown" (probably depression) which he thought was caused by too much intellectual work as a child. So, at the same age you are now, he was not very functional. He also died when he was 67-... Read more
Red seems exciting but blue seems calming. That is not the only thing that could be said about those colors. But is the reason those colors have the effects that they have because of something about the color themselves or because of the culture we are in?
William Rapaport
July 18, 2012
(changed July 18, 2012)
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As with many other questions about color, you might find the discussion of emotional responses to colors in Hardin's classic book to be of interest:Hardin, C.L. (1993), Color for Philosophers: Unweaving the Rainbow, expanded edition (Indianapolis: Hackett)
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Which kinds of job would be the most interesting (and available) to a recent undergraduate philosophy graduate, whose main interest is in philosophy, and who intends to continue pursuing philosophy as a hobby, but who thinks graduate study in philosophy is not a realistic option (for example, jobs that would appeal to someone with a strong interest in philosophy of action, free will, moral psychology, meta-ethics, the nature and grounding of normativity, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, esp. theories of intentionality, etc.)? Basically, jobs for someone who would like to do graduate study in philosophy, but knows they are not quite brilliant enough...
Saul Traiger
July 14, 2012
(changed July 14, 2012)
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First, one does not have to be brilliant to go to, and be successful in, graduate school in philosophy. That aside, there are many interesting career paths for someone with your education. One avenue is to pursue federal jobs, by looking at www.usajobs.gov.You can do a search by major or keyword,... Read more
Is it wrong to feel happy because someone, who I have no feeling for, love me? And is it wrong to enjoy the good things, like his gifts and his caring, and crave for more, when I have no intention in having any relationship with him? In fact, I love someone else.
Allen Stairs
July 14, 2012
(changed July 14, 2012)
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Let's start with a distinction between your feelings and your actions. I might be flattered that someone is in love with me; the feeling isn't wrong by itself. But if I lead the person on when I don't feel the same way about them, that's another matter.
So the question is: are you taking advantage... Read more
Who are some modern philosophers that argue for either dualism or the idea that mind is a nonphysical substance?
William Rapaport
July 13, 2012
(changed July 13, 2012)
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Here's another contemporary philosopher you might want to look into: Galen Strawson--"I take physicalism to be the view that every real, concrete phenomenon in the universe is physical. …[O]ne thing is absolutely clear. You're…not a real physicalist, if you deny the existence of the phenomen... Read more
Is love confined to opposite sexes only? when we love someone we want to be with that person all the time,we want to see that person happy all d time,we treat that person most importantly in our life and want the same from his/her side.we feel jealous if he/she gives importance to someone else more than us.we want to share all our good and bad moods only with that person.The question is what if we feel all this for a person of same sex,means i am a female and i feel all this for my female friend.kindly explain this psyche? Is it right or wrong??
Allen Stairs
July 13, 2012
(changed July 13, 2012)
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Love is not confined to opposite sex attraction, and in spite of what some people will tell you, there is nothing wrong with that. The reasons people give for saying that it is wrong just don't hold water.
We could go over some of those reasons, but there's so little to them that it's not really... Read more
I cannot remember the last time I was unhappy, annoyed or felt jealous. I have read, on some of the answers, references to emotional pain being inevitable. I do not agree. I think it is very possible, but difficult, for one to learn how not to feel 'destructive' emotions, such as anger, jealousy and unhappiness. If one were to, for instance, lose a friend in a 'tragic' accident, they would be expected to feel upset. I think it's correct to say that this is an illogical feeling; an unfortunate bi-product of the way that we have evolved. I think that if one were to be extremely logical, then they would be able to override the emotions, in the same way that many people can override the nefarious feeling of jealousy, if their spouse seemed to be attracted to another person. So, with that context, my question is: Do you think/agree it is possible, or even logical, to live one's life without feeling negative emotions?
Allen Stairs
July 12, 2012
(changed July 12, 2012)
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Whether it's possible is an empirical question. I'd guess it's highly unusual, but it might be so sometimes for all that.
As for whether it's "logical" to live without negative emotions strikes me as not the best question. What I'd ask is whether it's desirable—whether it's a good thing. I don't... Read more
What's wrong with rape jokes?
Oliver Leaman
July 12, 2012
(changed July 12, 2012)
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Nothing at all, they can be hilarious. Just like racist jokes, jokes which poke fun at disabled people, women and religion. The point of jokes is to transcend boundaries of good sense and social propriety. It is alright to object to them if they are objectionable, but that does not mean they fail... Read more
I'm particularly concerned with this question and response: http://www.askphilosophers.org/question/4636 I'm not necessarily interested in the theological ramifications, but in terms of Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene and Lawrence Krauss's cosmology in The Universe from Nothing, it feels like these are very real issues that have not been addressed by philosophers. Is there serious philosophy that has kept up to date on science? Or are these thinkers simply interested in claiming that Lawrence Krauss' "nothing" is different than the philosophical conception of nothing? Are there philosophers at all that deal with science post-Newton?
Speaking for my own response
Stephen Maitzen
July 12, 2012
(changed May 28, 2015)
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Speaking for my own response to Question 4636: I offered two quotations of Krauss from his online interview with Sam Harris (in which Harris gave Krauss ample space to clarify his positions) in order to show how advanced training in science doesn't guarantee even mini... Read more