Recent Responses
What does it mean to live authentically? I think Heidegger wrote about this, but can't recall where.
Charles Taliaferro
July 9, 2010
(changed July 9, 2010)
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Heidegger describes authentic living in his masterpiece Being and Time. He believes that living authentically involves living without self-deception or living in light of merely what society (the "they self") wants. Ultimately, it means coming to terms with your temporality and eventual deat... Read more
What is a poem? I'm thinking about this in reference to developments from Modernism on. The writer presents something novel in form with some familiar signs such as appearance on the page, embedded quotations or references, etc. The reader likes or dislikes, but basically accepts. It seems this is a new attitude, less tied to conventional definitions, but is it? Is there still a point to asking, "What is a poem?"
Charles Taliaferro
July 9, 2010
(changed July 9, 2010)
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Another panelist should take up this question, but I will start by commending you on appreciating the difficulty of defining 'poetry' given the breadth of sounds and marks that count as poems today. Long gone are the days when 'poetry' could be defined in terms of rhythm, but as we get to the... Read more
Is man mortal given he assumes new forms of life even if he is reduced to dust (from dust sprouts new vegetative forms of life which in turn sustains animal life)? But what about the people who are cremated; they cannot make the mother earth richer. The only remains left of them may be their spirit (if there is one). Do they still live through their spirit or other etheric or esoteric bodies? In short the question is whether man is reduced to naught after death?
Charles Taliaferro
July 9, 2010
(changed July 9, 2010)
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A question of the ages! Most philosophers in the west and east who believe that persons survive the death of their bodies either believe that there is more to being a person than their body there is a soul, for example and when the body dies, the soul endures, or they believe in some kind of... 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
What is the value of hard work?
Gordon Marino
July 9, 2010
(changed July 9, 2010)
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Here we need to inquire - what is the standard that we are measuring value by and is that standard legitimate? If the standard is building character than I think it could be said that hard work usually works to build character-- though too hard a work and exploitation can also work to harden the so... Read more
Will it be moral to continue working for a cigarette company knowing the sickenesses that smoking creates?
Gordon Marino
July 9, 2010
(changed July 9, 2010)
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No I don't think it would be moral- and yet it would also seem immoral to me, as someone with a good job, to morally condemn someone who was working for a tobacco company because it was the only decent job that he could find to take care of his family. So I would go for degrees of culpability, but... Read more
I find that a very common discussion that I have with friends and family is about which sport (baseball, football, soccer, etc.) is the "best" or which sport is "better." As my quotations may indicate, I find this discussion rather fruitless. For instance, I love baseball (watching or playing) but dislike soccer. But I do not know of a way--and am skeptical that there even is a way--to objectively measure the quality of a sport. Although they may share the common, but rather vague and general, attribute "sport," they nonetheless seem incommensurable with one another. At the same time, I am always wary of becoming a full-blown relativist, no matter the topic. So my question is whether or not there are fruitful ways to have an inner-sports dialogue that attempts to answer the question as to what sport is "better," "more praiseworthy," "more sophisticated," and so on? Or is our conception of what makes a sport good so tied up with our culture and (perhaps) our own athletic abilities that, in this case, we would do well to accept relativism and halt the debate entirely?
Eddy Nahmias
July 12, 2010
(changed July 12, 2010)
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Soccer (futbol) is the best sport, and the World Cup is the best sporting event.
I believe this is as true as any normative truth can be, but I may be biased... and I may be suffering WCW (World Cup Withdrawal).
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If one perceives that one is in a one-sided friendship......is it ethically necessary to inform the indifferent friend that you are no longer pursuing the friendship.....or is it better to just let the matter lie.....I ask the question in order to more fully understand what the bonds of friendship actually might be......Thank you for your attention. lisa m.
Charles Taliaferro
July 9, 2010
(changed July 9, 2010)
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Dear Lisa M: Great question! Without knowing the details, I think the answer to your question depends upon the kind of friendship you have. Some friendships are established with something like vows such as 'I will never lie to you' or 'I will always be your friend, no matter what!' If some... Read more
How is it that almost anything that any religious preacher says to prove the existence of God turns out to be typical examples of one or the other of the well known logical fallacies? How is it that they don't realise this simple fact when all such fallacies are enumerated in the Web in such sites as the Wikipedia? Are human being basically very irrational creatures ?
Andrew Pessin
August 5, 2010
(changed August 5, 2010)
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just to supplement Charles's very fine response: first, yes human beings are very irrational, but you can find irrational humans in every domain, theist and atheist ... if you're looking for 'rationality,' or at least approximations thereof, or at least 'reasonableness,' you probably don't wan... Read more
I am about to be a senior at an Ivy League university, and I am starting to panic about my next step. I believe that I am intelligent, a capable worker and will succeed in anything I do. The only problem is... What should I do? How would different philosophers advise me to approach my next step in life?
Charles Taliaferro
July 9, 2010
(changed July 9, 2010)
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In the abstract, this is a very difficult question to address, but I shall offer a few general points you might consider. In his defense before the jurors in Athens, Socrates admonished his people to care for their souls instead of only pursuing material wealth and power. There is a rich tra... Read more