Recent Responses
Hi, I'm curious how modern, professional philosophers (those holding a PhD, doing academic research, etc) view someone like Plato. I should add that I'm a mathematician and thus be a little biased, but I find their reasoning and arguments to be terrible in so many cases. Perhaps my definition of philosopher is too specific, but I'd say they're more like an artist than what I think of as a philosopher. For example, I'd say the metaphysics in the Republic may serve as an inspirational model for later philosophers, but his literal account, in my mind!, is almost silly.
Charles Taliaferro
November 15, 2011
(changed November 15, 2011)
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As you probably know, the title "Ph.D." is (technically or literally) a Doctor of Philosophy so someone with a Ph.D. in mathematics is not exactly completely free of philosophy. I mention this because mathematics as well as what we would today call sciences were often practiced by t... Read more
I think of forgiveness as a central principle around which I base my behavior. Lately I have been feeling as though many people close to me take advantage of my generous forgiveness by intentionally doing things that hurt me (not physically) and then offering superficial apologies, knowing that I will forgive them. Is there an ethical justification for forgiveness? If so, does it offer any insight onto the practical application of when and how to forgive and where to set limits?
Charles Taliaferro
November 15, 2011
(changed November 15, 2011)
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Great question! There is actually a significant literature out now on the philosophy of forgiveness and some significant controversy over whether and when forgiveness should or should not be given. One of the most prominent philosophers to contribute to the philosophy of forgivenes... Read more
What would Kant say about "networking"? Poses a dilemma for me bc of his prohibition against using people, which networking is, by definition. Is there a way we could modify or qualify networking to fit his Categorical Imperative, as in: well, if you offer in return a commensurate service, and if you wouldn't mind everyone doing it or even would recommend it... any ideas?
Allen Stairs
November 14, 2011
(changed November 14, 2011)
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The key is to be careful about what Kant says. You must never use people merely as means, but must also treat them as an end in themselves. One common example is buying something in a store. I use the clerk as a means to the transaction, but I don't coerce her/him. If I did, that would be... Read more
Consider the following: "If we lower the standards we lower the results, so if we raise the standards we raise the results" (in passing this is about education). I have the impression that there is a fallacy in this - even if I assume the first part of the inference, I suppose we could raise educational standards and just watch everybody fail miserably), but I cannot phrase clearly why/how this is a fallacious claim. Am I right? Is this fallacious and if so, is there a technical term for it?
Alexander George
November 12, 2011
(changed November 12, 2011)
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Let's assume it's true that "If P, then Q". The conditional claim that you imagine being inferred from this has the structure "If not-P, then not-Q". [Not quite: I don't think the negation of "we lower standards" is "we raise standards". One way in which we might fail to lower stand... Read more
I'm writing to find out if anyone would care to comment about the ethical considerations involved when the news media, political organizations and/or companies and corporations respond to private criticisms made to social media outlets by the average Joe exercising free speech within its legal limits. I've seen increasing examples of organized groups publicly reacting to individuals' negative or critical comments (which were not directly aimed at them or intended to be viewed by the general public) not only to simply respond or defend themselves, but to fulfill or further their political agendas and promote their ideology (in other words, to use the individuals as scapegoats). The definitions of both libel and the First Amendment are generally clear, defining the limitations of "free" speech in the U.S. It seems to me extremely unethical (if not bullying and violent) for organized groups to react to critical social media postings by thrusting the individuals who made them into the national spotlight and publicly campaigning against them (see NJ special-ed teacher Vicki Knox and the TSA "poop bomb" Tweeter as examples). Do you agree?
Charles Taliaferro
November 10, 2011
(changed November 10, 2011)
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I am inclined to agree. The issues are complex ( of course) so I will do less in offering your an analysis and more in the way of making a recommendation: I highly recommend the book Journalistic Ethics: Moral Responsibility and the Media by philosopher Dale Jacquette. Dale does a... Read more
My father replaced the lenses on his glasses. Then he replaced the frame when it later broke. Same type of lenses and same model of frame. He claims they're still the same pair of glasses. When I argue he's wrong and that they're now a different pair, he claims the same could therefore be said of him as he's replaced all his cells several times since he originally bought the glasses but, since he's still him, the glasses are still the glasses. Who's right?
Charles Taliaferro
November 10, 2011
(changed November 10, 2011)
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A CLASSIC case! This is a major issue going back to ancient philosophy. The example used then was the ship of Theseus (a Greek hero). Imagine you have the ship of Theseus and a similar ship side by side. First you switch one part (the mast, say). Is the ship of Thesus still the... Read more
My father replaced the lenses on his glasses. Then he replaced the frame when it later broke. Same type of lenses and same model of frame. He claims they're still the same pair of glasses. When I argue he's wrong and that they're now a different pair, he claims the same could therefore be said of him as he's replaced all his cells several times since he originally bought the glasses but, since he's still him, the glasses are still the glasses. Who's right?
Charles Taliaferro
November 10, 2011
(changed November 10, 2011)
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A CLASSIC case! This is a major issue going back to ancient philosophy. The example used then was the ship of Theseus (a Greek hero). Imagine you have the ship of Theseus and a similar ship side by side. First you switch one part (the mast, say). Is the ship of Thesus still the... Read more
I am very interested in the idea of aesthetics as a spiritual phenomenom. Spirituality for me is not something limited to one religion. I recently bought the Routledge companion to Aesthetics and I also have a collection of academic essays in aesthetics that is supposed to be comprehensive. But I am very disappointed, the only essays or chapters that relate aesthetics with spirituality are those of 19th century German thinkers but no thinkers that are modern. I would really like to study this subject (probably entirely outside the university) and contribute an article in a journal but I don't know the names of those journals or if any exist. So what journals are there on that subject? (the intersection of spirituality and aesthetics)
Charles Taliaferro
November 10, 2011
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There is quite a good literature on aesthetics that gets at spirituality. I co-authored a recent book (out last year) with the American artist Jil Evans: The image in mind (Continuum) that gets at the aesthetic dimension of different ways of viewing the world (principally theism and... Read more
Many pro-life advocates maintain that certain attendant may make abortion a reasonable choice from the perspective of the pregnant woman. Such circumstances are not limited to life-and-death cases, or even concerns directly related to the health. For instance: if a pregnant teen claimed that she had to forego motherhood in order to attend college and go on to to achieve her life goals, many would think this understandable. Such justifications seem plausible to me. And yet it strikes me that we almost never find cases where a mother expresses serious regret at having had children. As far as I can tell, it's very rare for a mother to admit, "On balance, I wish that I had aborted my children." And this holds true almost no matter what the difficulties surrounding the mother's pregnancy may have been. Whether a child is born into poverty, or suffers a birth defect, or prevents the mother from pursuing a career, we hardly ever look back and say, "Yes, this one should have been aborted." That's not to say that having children doesn't make life difficult--obviously, it does. But once a child is born, we hardly ever judge that its life represents more bad than good. I don't mean to suggest that abortion is immoral. What I question is the idea that abortion is often in the best interest of the mother (or parents). It seems like we have a tension here: either the lack of regretful mothers provides strong evidence that having children generally turns out for the best, despite the way things initially seem; or many of these mothers are giving in to some kind of post-hoc rationalization for having ended up in their present state.
Richard Heck
November 8, 2011
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I've heard this kind of reasoning before, and I think it's well worth thinking about. But I also think it is ultimately sophistical.
(Something seems to have been mangled in the beginning of the question. The first sentence seems ungrammatical, and I would have thought the views expressed we... Read more
Are the American Soldiers at Abu Ghraib responsible for their actions, and should they be considered the 'evil wrongdoers' they were made out to be.
Richard Heck
November 8, 2011
(changed November 8, 2011)
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I find it hard to see why anyone would suggest they are not responsible at all for their actions. But surely it is a good question whether they alone are responsible for their actions. And here, of course, the controversy becomes political. Did "higher-ups" issue orders that were tantamount... Read more