Recent Responses
Is circumcision cruelty?
Eddy Nahmias
July 20, 2010
(changed July 20, 2010)
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To offer an opposing view to Professor Leaman's (and nothing particularly philosophical): there is some evidence that circumcision reduces the risk of contracting certain STDs, such as herpes and HIV. Though there is disagreement about this evidence, if it is substantiated, then this benefit of... Read more
In the past few days, the Tate gallery in London has been the target of protests because it receives funding from BP. My girlfriend and I have been discussing this, and where she finds that the use of tactics that cause damage to property are not permissible, whereas I deem them to be, if not merely permissible in fact close to a moral requirement. I often draw parallels between the tactics employed by the suffragettes, the civil rights movement in America and Nelson Mandela's ANC (as well as the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe) and today's 'anti-climate change' environmental activists. Her argument is that the arts are important, and funding them is surely a good thing. If this means accepting money from legal, if slightly unsavoury, bodies then that is a 'necessary evil'. It basically comes down to the question "what is a legitimate form of protest to get an important point across?"
Eric Silverman
July 19, 2010
(changed July 19, 2010)
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I think there are a number of problems with this form of violent protest. First, I don't see how this vandalism accomplishes anything positive. It doesn't help anyone. It doesn't punish BP. It doesn't conserve a single drop of oil. It doesn't draw attention to an unknown problem (anyone who does... Read more
Greetings, I've been pissing off my scientist friends and delighting creationists with the notion that both contemporary cosmology and Christianity share a fundamental ontology - first there was nothing and then there was everything. The Big Bang is a story of miraculous creation. Therefore, both have equivalent epistemological status - either both are the Truth, or both are just good stories. I am particularly interested in arguments against. Cheers, Chris Alexander, NC
Andrew Pessin
July 15, 2010
(changed July 15, 2010)
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What fun!
But there are disanalogies -- the Christian view doesn't quite hold there ever was nothing, for there always was God -- and also I don't think it's exactly accurate to describe the Big Bang as 'first there was nothing then there was something' (it's rather: everything in the universe ca... Read more
This is more of a scientific question perhaps -- not sure -- but how is it possible that we can close our eyes and still see light i.e. how is it possible we close our eyes and think of images or memories in which the sun is shining and objects can be seen as if the real sun were shining? To see a postcard or a picture with our eyes open requires an outside light source, the sun or a lamp. But then I can close my eyes and see the same postcard and picture without any outside light source. How is that possible? Erik
Andrew Pessin
July 15, 2010
(changed July 15, 2010)
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Great question -- and in fact you have your finger on a version of what is ultimately perhaps the strongest argument for a mind-body dualism -- ie the view that mind and body/matter are completely distinct sorts of things. One way to put it is this way: with eyes closed I am seeing (say) a shin... Read more
Excuse me, my English is not perfect. But I´ll try to make myself understood. I´m very interested in the problem, which Wittgenstein named "the bewitchment of our mind by language". I think, language is a cage inside we live, if we are not aware of its mechanisms. I want to ask you, if this topic is already investigated? Is there any explicit literature concerning it? Thank you very much. Yours sincerely. S.H.
Sean Greenberg
August 12, 2010
(changed August 12, 2010)
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"A picture held us captive," Wittgestein writes in the Philosophical Investigations, "and we could not get outside it, for it lay in our language...." The sort of picture to which Wittgenstein is referring here consists of pre-philosophical assumptions about the nature of language, of mind,... Read more
If everything that physically exists is indeed the result of primordial coincidence, is there any way of statistically measuring the chances that human beings (in our present state of development and after hundreds of thousands of years of evolution) would be able to comprehend the origin and nature of the universe? In other words, when I think about the organic lump of brain in my head understanding the universe, or anything at all, it seems absurdly unlikely. That lump of tissue seems to me more like a pancreas than than a super-computer, and I have a hard time understanding how organic tissue is able to reach conclusions about the universe or existence.
Allen Stairs
July 15, 2010
(changed July 15, 2010)
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I think the simple answer is that any probabilities we come up with here are pretty much meaningless. Probability calculations ade only as good as the information we feed into them, and it's hard to see what a well-formed question would be like here - not least since it would require some way of q... Read more
Is time an independent physical dimension or a human construct designed to compare events to each other ? If it is a physical entity why can we move only in one direction and at an inexorable pace? Is it theoretically possible for a time machine (Hot Tub or any other sort) could exist?
Jonathan Westphal
July 15, 2010
(changed July 15, 2010)
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I agree with everything that Allen writes in his last comment. Some time travel scenarios are ruled out a priori : these are the inconsistent ones, and there may be others, for all I know. Are the consistent ones ruled out by anything? I can't see that they are, as the only reason I am clear... Read more
Why students checking facebook on class are regarded disrespectful, while a professor who checks his facebook on a symposium as another professor is reading his paper is said to be cute and cool？ Are there absolute boundaries between righteous and evil, right and wrong?
Gordon Marino
July 15, 2010
(changed July 15, 2010)
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These are two very different questions-- First, I would not regard the Facebook checking prof as cool. Going on to your computer while someone is giving a seminar or talk is just disrespectful. I doubt our Facebook checking prof would take kindly to someone doing the same to her as she delivered... Read more
Should boxing be banned?
Gordon Marino
July 14, 2010
(changed July 14, 2010)
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I am a boxing trainer so I suppose that is my answer to your question. Boxing should be much more carefully regulated at the professional level of that there can be no doubt. But amateur boxing is quite safe and has been a lifesaver to many young people who are perhaps on the edge- and are often... Read more
Is time an independent physical dimension or a human construct designed to compare events to each other ? If it is a physical entity why can we move only in one direction and at an inexorable pace? Is it theoretically possible for a time machine (Hot Tub or any other sort) could exist?
Jonathan Westphal
July 15, 2010
(changed July 15, 2010)
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I agree with everything that Allen writes in his last comment. Some time travel scenarios are ruled out a priori : these are the inconsistent ones, and there may be others, for all I know. Are the consistent ones ruled out by anything? I can't see that they are, as the only reason I am clear... Read more