Recent Responses
Why do mainstream listeners find it difficult to consider extreme metal music (e.g. death metal, black metal, etc) aesthetically pleasing? Some forms of progressive death metal (e.g. bands like Opeth) do an excellent job of balancing truly 'beautiful' and 'sublime' elements. Can it be, that due to an aversion on worldview level, people do not recognize the aesthetic elements?
Gordon Marino
June 16, 2011
(changed June 16, 2011)
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I listen to all types of music but have a hard time with the screaming in extreme metal. It just jangles my nerves. But it is true, I think, that certain life perspectives could render it difficult to detect the beauty in certain types of music. For instance, I imagine that people with a particul... Read more
When I read Shakespeare or Sophocles I feel like I am getting a glimpse into a powerful mythical dimension of fate and synchronicity that those writers seem to have a masterful vision of. However, the mythical dimension of life is more often associated with revealed religion (ie. The Bible, The Vedas, etc) than it is with philosophy. What philosophers have dedicated a central part of their philosophy to explicating those underlying forces of life that are dealt with indirectly in the works of great literature such as Sophocles and Shakespeare? (Aristotle doesn't get deep enough for me but he seems agree that tragedy is about the interconnectedness of forces, Hegel is too hard to read although his ideas about Tragedy being about the conflict of irreconcilable "rights" seems somewhat compelling, Nietzche's take on Greek tragedy confuses me because he is considered an atheist but I don't see how atheism gels with his assertions about Apollonian and Dionysian forces at work in tragedy, Freud sees Oedipus in terms that are fascinating because he sees underlying forces within the psyche as driving Oedipus's journey but he never connects those forces explicitly to a larger picture ) So who else writes about the mythical dimension of life from a philosophical vantage?
Charles Taliaferro
June 15, 2011
(changed June 15, 2011)
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You have asked: who else writes about the mythical dimension of life from a philosophical vantage [point]? Ralph Harper would be good to check out (try his book Sleeping Beauty). He does some interesting philosophical and theological work on fairy tales, but his work does bear on what you... Read more
Is having your own biological kids instead of adopting morally wrong? It appears that it is to me because it seems that the world reveals that there are many hungry children out there that need to be adopted, ergo, there is less harm if you adopt. What are counters to my argument, and what is the stance of the academic community on this issue if there is one?
Thomas Pogge
June 11, 2011
(changed June 11, 2011)
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Funny you should ask -- there's a doctoral dissertation now being written on exactly this question (I am marginally involved in its supervision). The student essentially argues for the conclusion you suggest, claiming that, in the world as it is, those who decide to have children at all ought to a... Read more
Robert Nozick compared taxes to forced labor, on the grounds that taking money away from people forces them to work for more money. Is forced labor always objectionable? Suppose my city holds one day a year where everyone (with obvious exceptions for extenuating circumstances) is required to pick up litter. Would this be unethical? Is there an important difference between slavery and compulsory labor?
Charles Taliaferro
June 11, 2011
(changed June 11, 2011)
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It is an honor to address this question as Nozick was one of my professors (and I must say he was an outstanding, funny, wise teacher). On my dear professor: You may be right about Nozick, though he did allow for a minimal state which would have required some (again, perhaps minimal) taxati... Read more
My aunt once complained about how the dumb the janitor of my high school was. He didn't seem very bright to me either. But, why do people think it's okay to put others down just because they are dumb? I am warranted in having less respect for my aunt for being that way or is it hypocritical to be judgmental to people who are judgmental?
Charles Taliaferro
June 11, 2011
(changed June 11, 2011)
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Great questions! First, I suggest that a person who feels compelled to use the term "dumb" to describe others may be doing so out of their own insecurity (why feel the need to put others down, unless perhaps to feel superior?), but more importantly using the term "dumb" in that way seems pr... Read more
Do most aesthetic theorists in philosophy think that things beside art can be aesthetic (such as everyday life when not presented with art)? Or is that something only a few philosophers advocate (such as Dewey and Wittgenstein)?
Jonathan Westphal
June 16, 2011
(changed June 16, 2011)
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Most aestheticians make the distinction between aesthetics and philosophy of art, with "aesthetics" being the wider term and "philosophy of art" the narrower one. "Philosophy of art" is only the philosophy of works of art or art objects as they are unappealingly called these days. In other w... Read more
Is a person only as valuable as the good he/she produces for others?
Thomas Pogge
June 10, 2011
(changed June 10, 2011)
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Making the lives of others better certainly does add value to your own. But I believe it would be a bit extreme to say that making your own life better adds nothing to the value of your life. How might one argue for this belief?
Here is one way. There are wonderful writers and artists who create... Read more
Is it unethical to not tell your partner you have herpes if they don't ask? Is it excusable in any way not to do so?
Thomas Pogge
June 10, 2011
(changed June 10, 2011)
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If one is innocently unaware that one has a communicable medical condition, then this would be a plausible excuse (here by "innocently" I mean to exclude cases where one has recklessly ignored obvious symptoms). Another excuse might be that the communicable condition is very minor (which I believe... Read more
Do false statements imply contradictions? Consider the truth table for logical implication. P...........Q.............P->Q T...........T.............. T T...........F...............F F...........T...............T F...........F...............T Notice that for a false statement P, the last two rows of the truth table, both Q and ~Q follow. No matter what Q is, it's truth follows from false statement P, as the third row shows. We can therefore take Q to be "P is true." From here it follows that a false statement P implies it's own truth, as the third row shows. Do false statements really imply their own truth? Do they really imply contradictions? Are false statements also true?
William Rapaport
June 10, 2011
(changed June 10, 2011)
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One branch of logic that deals with an alternative to material implication, and that has applications in artificial intelligence, is called "relevance logic". For more information on it, take a look at:
Anderson, Alan Ross, &Belnap, Nuel D., Jr.(1975),Entailment: The Logic of Relevance... Read more
I recently had a colonoscopy under an anesthetic that caused complete amnesia. An observer could see I was in extreme pain during the procedure yet I have no recollection. How does a philosopher think about the pain I experienced but do not recall?
William Rapaport
June 10, 2011
(changed June 10, 2011)
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Daniel Dennett discussed a fictional drug that he called an "amnestic" that allows you to feel pain, but paralyzes you so that you don't exhibit pain behavior, and leaves you with amnesia. Pleasant, no? For the details and his philosophical analysis, read:
Dennett, Daniel C. (1978), "Why Yo... Read more