Recent Responses
Is hypocrisy morally wrong? Suppose you publicly advocate some good principle X, but privately violate X. Violating X is wrong, but surely it's still right to advocate X in public. You shouldn't encourage others to violate X like you do!
Richard Heck
October 6, 2009
(changed October 6, 2009)
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That all seems right, to be sure. But I'm not sure we're thinking about the question whether hypocrisy is wrong in quite the right way. For note, first of all, that, even if hypocrisy is wrong, that does not mean that the solution should be to cease advocating what is right. It might, rather,... Read more
Could there be more than a countably infinite number of propositions?
Richard Heck
October 6, 2009
(changed October 6, 2009)
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If I remember correctly, and I may well not, David Lewis explicitly argues that there are uncountably many propositions in Plurality of Worlds and uses this as an argument against any view that would try to reduce propositions to sentences. At the very least, he does consider this issue. So h... Read more
Why is an amoeba considered alive, but a car is not? The car is as complicated as the amoeba. It eats gasoline, and produces waste. It also has a reproductive system: by providing humans a useful service, cars have been able to use human factories as breeding grounds. When a car stops working, we say that it dies. Finally, if you look at cars through the decades, you can see that the primitive species of car (i.e. Model T) evolved into modern species (i.e. Prius). So why aren't cars alive?
Eddy Nahmias
October 6, 2009
(changed October 6, 2009)
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As you suggest, there are a lot of analogies between cars and living things, and if you had used computer programs, there might have been even more. So, if we wish to say that amoeba and such are alive, whereas human artifacts are not, we need to find the relevant differences. There are at l... Read more
When, if ever, is profane language justified? I saw some people yesterday carrying signs with pictures of Obama with a Hitler mustache. As a Jew and an American, I was deeply offended and became so angry that I launched into a profanity-laced tirade. Afterwards, I definitely felt bad about losing my cool, but I also wondered more generally when and if the use of profane language can be justified.
Jasper Reid
October 5, 2009
(changed October 5, 2009)
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I guess it's justified if it works. I would say that swear words definitely do have a legitimate, and even an important, place in our wider linguistic behaviour. Used sparingly, they can do an excellent job of adding emphasis when you feel you need to give things that extra little boost. They c... Read more
Could there be more than a countably infinite number of propositions?
Richard Heck
October 6, 2009
(changed October 6, 2009)
Permalink
If I remember correctly, and I may well not, David Lewis explicitly argues that there are uncountably many propositions in Plurality of Worlds and uses this as an argument against any view that would try to reduce propositions to sentences. At the very least, he does consider this issue. So h... Read more
A famous philosopher is coming to visit my university. Would it be inappropriate to ask for his autograph?
Richard Heck
October 3, 2009
(changed October 3, 2009)
Permalink
I thought about the article idea. And, back in the day, one might have had an off-print for someone to sign. (I once saw an off-print that had apparently belonged to Henry Sheffer, he of the Sheffer stroke, signed by Gottlob Frege!) But it does seem odd to ask someone to sign a photocopy of an... Read more
A famous philosopher is coming to visit my university. Would it be inappropriate to ask for his autograph?
Richard Heck
October 3, 2009
(changed October 3, 2009)
Permalink
I thought about the article idea. And, back in the day, one might have had an off-print for someone to sign. (I once saw an off-print that had apparently belonged to Henry Sheffer, he of the Sheffer stroke, signed by Gottlob Frege!) But it does seem odd to ask someone to sign a photocopy of an... Read more
A famous philosopher is coming to visit my university. Would it be inappropriate to ask for his autograph?
Richard Heck
October 3, 2009
(changed October 3, 2009)
Permalink
I thought about the article idea. And, back in the day, one might have had an off-print for someone to sign. (I once saw an off-print that had apparently belonged to Henry Sheffer, he of the Sheffer stroke, signed by Gottlob Frege!) But it does seem odd to ask someone to sign a photocopy of an... Read more
Are all of the laws of nature or of the universe such as the law of gravity necessary or contingent? If contingent, and found in one instance to be false, would they fail to be laws? Thanks, John
Richard Heck
October 3, 2009
(changed October 3, 2009)
Permalink
Yes, and no.
If there are exceptions to the law of gravity (whatever that might be), then it is not a law. Fundamental physical laws are supposed to be exceptionless. (I put the point that way because many philosophers hold that the laws of non-basic sciences, such as biology or even chemistr... Read more
What is wrong with watching child pornography? Let's be clear that child abuse is wrong, and anything that makes more of it likely in the future is also wrong. Even if we agree that watching child pornography which encourages further harm to children is wrong, it seems less clear where the wrong is in doing so when there is no chance of causing harm. There are many pictures of adults and children who have been harmed to an extent at least on a par with the victims of such child abuse from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we do not normally think that viewing those images is wrong or makes us complicit. The most obvious candidate is the motive of sexual gratification on the part of the viewer. What makes that different from the motives of readers of bombs in the Middle-East? Is it the fact that the viewer must have a deviant sexual orientation or because they are benefiting from the harm in a way that the reader isn't? The first reason seems off the mark since it seems that the act of viewing is wrong and the sexual orientation it reveals. The second looks more plausible, but a reader might have a strong preference for articles about bombs, and benefit inasmuch as they satisfy their preference. In most domains in our society, the prevailing idea is that censorship is wrong unless it directly harms others. Usually, we say that media - text, images and videos - are free to consume (in the sense of legal freedom, not cost) and the traditional liberal reason seems to be that however appalling we may find the content of such media, it simply contains more information about the world. Various exceptions have been raised, like inciting racist violence, but there's a clear harm consequence which doesn't feature here. Also, if we wanted to ban material that harmed people by exposing their suffering to others (even though they're not aware of their exposure) then photos of bomb victims should not be acceptable. I'm being tendentious on purpose because there's very little critical discussion of this topic, even in broadsheets. It seems to be that if the suffering and long-term trauma of children is what makes it so bad then we should be clear about that and focus our anger on that. Is there anything to be gained from demonizing people for merely looking at something that almost all of us agree is wrong?
Richard Heck
October 3, 2009
(changed October 3, 2009)
Permalink
Let me ask a view questions.
Is it clear that viewing child pornography is always wrong? Consider a detective who is viewing it in an attempt to establish the identities of the participants.
Is it clear that any photograph of children being sexually exploited by adults is ipso facto wrong? Co... Read more