Recent Responses
Many people (not all) who object to such things as torture, indefinite detention, or animal testing, object regardless of what the benefits of those things might be. Some of those people are liberals. That doesn't seem very coherent -isn't a lot of modern liberalism based on ideas about what the best outcome for everyone is? I know there are some social contract theories that might be an alternative to utilitarianism, but that doesn't work for the animal advocates, since presumably they don't believe that you have to be able to enter a social contract to have your rights respected. Is there some way for these people to have a coherent position?
Oliver Leaman
September 7, 2008
(changed September 7, 2008)
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I think a liberal can support a ban on torture unconditionally from a conseqentialist point of view. She would say perhaps that if society follows such a policy, then while in one or two cases the effects might be unfortunate, on the whole they would be better than the alternative. This c... Read more
If you know that your step son has committed child abuse, but you care for the well-being of the two (now adult) young women you know he abused and you feel that to pursue justice would cause not only the young women pain, but his father (who you also love) and his mother too, should you pursue justice anyway? Should you alert the child protection agencies in his area when you discover he has married and is expecting a child? If you discover that your much-loved brother abused your much-loved sisters many years ago when they were all children and the abuse has clearly caused deep emotional scarring and long term mental illness, should you punish your brother? Tell on him to his wife? Alert the social services to the potential danger his children might be in? Can you rationally forgive him? Or your step-son for that matter? And if you take steps to inform the authorities about them, how do you face your other family members who in both cases are vehemently opposed to this course of action? I know that there are issues about feelings and revenge here but I am really not interested in them - it is knowing what I "ought" to do, if anything, that I am wrestling with! This story has taken over ten years to mature and I have not yet reached a conclusion about what the "Right Thing To Do" might be. Perhaps you can help...
Oliver Leaman
September 7, 2008
(changed September 7, 2008)
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You raise a lot of issues here, but let me say something about the fiat iustitia, ruat caelum principle, the idea that you must pursue justice though the heavens fall, which you certainly touch on in an interesting way. There are clearly circumstances when righting past wrongs judicially... Read more
It's a bit difficult to understand the difference between 'Being' and 'Existence'. From what I know, bring is the state or quality of existing. But to me this state or quality sounds extremely ghostly. Could you please elaborate? Thanks Shamik C. New Delhi India
Allen Stairs
December 18, 2008
(changed December 18, 2008)
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What fun! And indeed, it turns out that Giovanna picked my birthday to show me the error of my ways! :-)
As it turns out, however, I don't think we actually disagree about anything. Giovanna has pointed out, in effect, that folks in her tradition use these terms to mark out a distinction (... Read more
Scientists often say (rather diplomatically, I think) that science cannot rule on the question of whether God exists. But is this really true? I suppose that some people might hold God's existence to be evident a priori; but I don't think that most religious people actually think this way.
Peter Smith
September 7, 2008
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Discussions of the status of theological claims can suffer from a restricted diet of examples. It is worth remembering that lots of theological claims are in fact uncontroversially true or uncontroversially false, and their epistemic status (and their relation to science) is pretty clear.
T... Read more
Should a political leader let his faith influence his decisions that he makes for the people he leads?
Thomas Pogge
September 7, 2008
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In a society where this faith is shared and influences political decisions in the direction of peace, justice, humanity, and equal citizenship, I see no problem.
Problems arise when either of these two conditions are not satisfied. Faith can lead people to do terrible things, for instance... Read more
If it is rational to do X, does it follow that it is irrational not to do X?
Thomas Pogge
September 6, 2008
(changed September 6, 2008)
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This question is really just about the ordinary meaning of the words or their most appropriate use. I would answer no on both grounds. There can certainly be situations where there is not one uniquely most rational decision. For example, the choice of either of two ties may be rational for... Read more
a nice easy question: I love philosophy and consider it one of the most important of humanities interests, but is there a career path I could follow?
Thomas Pogge
September 6, 2008
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Sure, you can become a teacher of philosophy -- most plausibly in a college or university (with a PhD), or perhaps also in a highschool (with a MA). There's not much else, though, for professional philosophers. But then you can also choose another career and keep up with some of what philo... Read more
Suppose I bought a $80 ticket to highly anticipated concert. Two weeks later, the organizers announce they will allow any one to enter free. They do not offer me a refund. Do I have justified reason to be mad?
Thomas Pogge
September 6, 2008
(changed September 6, 2008)
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Mad at whom? At yourself because you could have been at the concert at lower cost? But there was no way for you to know this: you cared about the opportunity and did what you needed to do to secure it. At the organizers? Maybe. But they have costs to cover, and it's nice of them to give aw... Read more
I was reading Stanford Encyclopedia's article on consciousness and the problem of "what it is like" to be a bat. I believe that there is something that it is like to be a bat, but I guess there is nothing that it is like to be a bacterium, an amoeba or even a worm or a flea. What do you think an organism has to have so that there is something that it is like to be it? Where's the divide between fleas and bats?
Jennifer Church
September 5, 2008
(changed September 5, 2008)
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I think that an organism must be conscious in order for there to be something that it is like to be that organism. This may seem like an obvious truth, but some people believe that there is something it is like to be asleep even though we are not conscious when sleeping, and some people... Read more
Suppose it's your birthday, and you get your Aunt (who has an infinite amount of money in the bank) to mail you a signed check with the dollar amount left blank. Your Aunt says you cash the check for any amount you want, provided it is finite. Assume that the check will always go through, and that each extra dollar you request gives you at least some marginal utility. It seems in this case, every possible course of action is irrational. You could enter a million dollars in the dollar amount, but wouldn't it be better to request a billion dollars? For any amount you enter in the check, it would be irrational not to ask for more. But surely you should enter some amount onto the check, as even cashing a check for $1 is better than letting it sit on your dresser. But any amount you put onto the check would be irrational, so it seems that you have no rational options. Does this mean that the concept of "infinite value" is self-contradictory? If so we have a rebuttal to Pascal's Wager.
Allen Stairs
September 5, 2008
(changed September 5, 2008)
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I hope that some of my co-panelists who think more about decision theory will chime in, but here are a few thoughts.
Cheap first try: it seems plausible that even if every additional dollar brings some marginal utility, by the time we reach, say, a trillion trillion dollars (a septillion d... Read more