Recent Responses
Do categories exist? For instance: Animal. "Animal" is the name of a category, a set of things within certain parameters. Now, the animals themselves exist, but does "Animal" exist? After all, isn't "animal" just an name, an idea we have "created." That which composes a category exists, but does the category itself exist?
Sean Greenberg
February 5, 2011
(changed February 5, 2011)
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This is a version of the question of whether universals exist, about which there has been considerable philosophical discussion over the past 2500 years or so. Some philosophers--call them 'nominalists'--believe that the only things that exist are particulars: in the case of animals, then... Read more
When proponents of Intelligent Design insist that it is inconceivable for a particular biological structure to have simply evolved, their opponents sometimes respond "evolution is cleverer than you are." This is a pithy response, and no doubt there is truth to it; but can the ID-proponent really be reasonably expected to accept this?
Richard Heck
February 4, 2011
(changed February 4, 2011)
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Whether ID proponents would accept the counter is not necessarily the best question. I would suggest we ask whether they should accept it, or what force it has.
My own sense is that the charge that it is "inconceivable" how, say, the eye evolved is really quite lame. Suppose it true that it... Read more
I am a 39 year old married woman. I recently attended an adult party (a.k.a. pleasure party) hosted by one of my friends. I did not ask my husband's permission to attend, thinking it wasn't a big deal. I did not purchase any "toys" but nonetheless, my husband is furious at me for attending. He says I "violated" our relationship and socially embarrassed him by going. He has called me a liar, hypocrite (because I don't allow our children to swear, watch porn, etc. but I went to this party) and a whore. I don't understand what is happening. He says I must "admit my guilt" or live a lonely, sex-less life. He also doesn't think he will ever be able to have sex with me again. I want to stay with him but I don't know what I did wrong. Is it morally and ethically wrong to attend a party like this without my husband's consent?
Peter Smith
February 4, 2011
(changed February 4, 2011)
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Good heavens, indeed. This isn't, as Charles said, really a question for philosophers. But just on an ordinary human level, it will strike most people that your husband is behaving pretty appallingly, in a way that probably reveals a deep fear or even horror of female sexuality. His response... Read more
People who commit a sadistic crime are often said to lack empathy. But don't they have to be able to understand the pain that they are inflicting in order to derive pleasure from that pain and isn't that ability empathy?
Charles Taliaferro
February 4, 2011
(changed February 4, 2011)
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Perhaps the problem lies in our current use of the term 'empathy' --which suggests not just understanding for caring. On that definition, I am not empathetic with you if I understand your suffering but I care nothing for your recovery or health. But if by 'empathy' and 'sympathy' too... Read more
Is bravery - for example risking or giving one's life to save a stranger's, while one has loved-ones and dependents - laudable, or even defensible, under any theories of ethics? There are many examples of people giving up their lives - and by consequence severely afflicting those of their immediate family - through acts of self-sacrifice. Are these acts justifiable? Sometimes the risks of this kind of uncalculating bravery are so great, it seems that no reasonable person would do it, yet some do, and most people (me included) praises them for it - is this reasonable?
Charles Taliaferro
February 3, 2011
(changed February 3, 2011)
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Great question! It does seem that there are cases when family or romantic relations would provide a very good reason for a person not to engage in heroic self-sacrifice. Imagine a peson is deciding between professions: a crime fighter who would be in a unit where there is a 30% moral... Read more
Religious indoctrination involves very profound moral, emotional, and political implications which are beyond the grasp of young children. Isn't it wrong to indoctrinate a child into a religious belief before they can knowledgeably consent to the implications of that belief system?
Jonathan Westphal
February 3, 2011
(changed February 3, 2011)
Permalink
This is a profound and difficult philosophical question. I have toyed with the idea that it is wrong to teach children anything normative in the areas of politics and religion - at least they won't know enough to spoil dinner table conversation when they grow up. Seriously, I am not sur... Read more
Do others have the right to define what’s ethical for me?
Charles Taliaferro
February 3, 2011
(changed February 3, 2011)
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A foundatoinal question or a question that gets to the very basis of ethics itself! "Ethics" today includes matters of virtue and vice as well as the morality of action. In much of the history of ideas and culture as well as today, it is widely held that what counts as moral or immor... Read more
Do others have the right to define what’s ethical for me?
Charles Taliaferro
February 3, 2011
(changed February 3, 2011)
Permalink
A foundatoinal question or a question that gets to the very basis of ethics itself! "Ethics" today includes matters of virtue and vice as well as the morality of action. In much of the history of ideas and culture as well as today, it is widely held that what counts as moral or immor... Read more
I am a 39 year old married woman. I recently attended an adult party (a.k.a. pleasure party) hosted by one of my friends. I did not ask my husband's permission to attend, thinking it wasn't a big deal. I did not purchase any "toys" but nonetheless, my husband is furious at me for attending. He says I "violated" our relationship and socially embarrassed him by going. He has called me a liar, hypocrite (because I don't allow our children to swear, watch porn, etc. but I went to this party) and a whore. I don't understand what is happening. He says I must "admit my guilt" or live a lonely, sex-less life. He also doesn't think he will ever be able to have sex with me again. I want to stay with him but I don't know what I did wrong. Is it morally and ethically wrong to attend a party like this without my husband's consent?
Peter Smith
February 4, 2011
(changed February 4, 2011)
Permalink
Good heavens, indeed. This isn't, as Charles said, really a question for philosophers. But just on an ordinary human level, it will strike most people that your husband is behaving pretty appallingly, in a way that probably reveals a deep fear or even horror of female sexuality. His response... Read more
Religious indoctrination involves very profound moral, emotional, and political implications which are beyond the grasp of young children. Isn't it wrong to indoctrinate a child into a religious belief before they can knowledgeably consent to the implications of that belief system?
Jonathan Westphal
February 3, 2011
(changed February 3, 2011)
Permalink
This is a profound and difficult philosophical question. I have toyed with the idea that it is wrong to teach children anything normative in the areas of politics and religion - at least they won't know enough to spoil dinner table conversation when they grow up. Seriously, I am not sur... Read more