Recent Responses
Why are philosophers interested in the topic of death?
Saul Traiger
November 26, 2007
(changed November 26, 2007)
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I recommend taking a look at Fred Feldman's book Confrontations with the Reaper: A Philosophical Study of the Nature and Value of Death (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992). It covers many of the issues mentioned by Mitch Green. But make sure you read the Preface, where Feldman explain... Read more
Why are philosophers interested in the topic of death?
Saul Traiger
November 26, 2007
(changed November 26, 2007)
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I recommend taking a look at Fred Feldman's book Confrontations with the Reaper: A Philosophical Study of the Nature and Value of Death (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992). It covers many of the issues mentioned by Mitch Green. But make sure you read the Preface, where Feldman explain... Read more
Do you believe in all of the UFO stories like sightings, seeing little weird people, being abducted, etc.? I know that my mother-in-law and 2 daughters have sworn on a Bible that they witnessed the landing of a UFO in central Iowa. They didn't see any people but saw the space ship come out of the sky and land in the road ahead of the car. They just continued to watch it and after an hour or so they turned around in the road and headed back home.
Allen Stairs
November 24, 2007
(changed November 24, 2007)
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I don't believe in them myself, though I'd be quite willing to be convinved that some of them are true. However, the story you tell illustrates a typical difficulty of these accounts: we might grant that your in-laws saw something, but what was it?
The acronym "UFO," of course, stands for... Read more
Pornography is a topic often battled over. If the person is of legal age and accessing pornography by non-illegal means then what is the problem with it? Why do so many people have such outrage against it and want to close it down or belittle those who access it?
Alan Soble
November 22, 2007
(changed November 22, 2007)
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This is a large question with many different answers. Much, a ton, has been written about it, by scholars and by polemicists. The best I can do for you, without merely repeating myself (a tedious task), is to send you to my books Pornography, Sex, and Feminism (Prometheus, 2002) -- which is... Read more
If I believe something is wrong, namely poverty and income inequality, then shouldn't I do as much as I can to make it right? So then my question becomes, what is the most effective way to help impoverished people? If I become completely devoted to ending poverty and spent all my time say working for a non-profit organization I believe I would be doing some good. However, if I become a successful businessperson then I could possibly be doing even more good by donating millions of dollars, although I would be more committed to business then fixing poverty at that point. How can I be sure what option will give me live the "good life"?
Thomas Pogge
November 22, 2007
(changed November 22, 2007)
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On your first question, in its general form: No, it is not the case that you should do as much as you can to make right what you believe is wrong. First, there are wrongs that you can make right only by committing serious wrongs of your own. Second, your resources (time, money, energy) are... Read more
How is it that we are still able to enjoy works of art, especially literary works, produced hundreds and in some cases thousands of years ago? We can still enjoy, for example, The Epic of Gilgamesh or Homer or Beowulf, despite their having been produced in ancient societies with values and attitudes profoundly different to our own? Does this suggest they uphold certain values or beliefs which are of timeless and enduring importance to human beings?
Douglas Burnham
November 22, 2007
(changed November 22, 2007)
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An excellent question. One can imagine two very different types ofenjoyment that would lead to two very different answers to yourquestion. We might enjoy something because it is familiar, and thusserves to comfort or even reinforce our sense of who we are, and thevalue of who we are. (I... Read more
A philosopher writes, "Capital punishment is immoral. It was immoral even when the majority of people were convinced it was moral. They were simply wrong." Is there any empirical, verifiable, and falsifiable method of testing a statement like "Capital punishment is immoral"? If not, why can't an advocate of capital punishment insist with equal vehemence that the philosopher is simply wrong?
Peter S. Fosl
November 21, 2007
(changed November 21, 2007)
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You boil things down very effectively. To respond in kind: There's not, and he or she can.But that doesn't make conversation, debate, argument, etc. about capital punishment pointless. Why not? Because there's more to discourse about morals than vehement insistence. Moral conversatio... Read more
What does "morally wrong" really mean? Something that offends my parents, the local police, the local clergy, a specialized group of philosophers, or my peer group at the golf club, or my occasionally very forgiving conscience?
Peter S. Fosl
November 21, 2007
(changed November 21, 2007)
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Consider the question, ‘Is cannibalism morally wrong?’ One can first ask whether this question is about some sort of fact. And if it isn’t, does that mean that all possible answers are personal opinions, social conventions, or something else such that ‘true’ and ‘false’ simply have no mea... Read more
I am particularly concerned with the concept of hypocrisy. If Dr. Johnson tells me not to smoke because smoking is bad for my health, yet Dr. Johnson himself is a chain smoker, does that reduce his credibility? Why does the US that condemn other countries for human rights violations, when our soldiers kill (or have killed) innocent civilians in Iraq, Vietnam and Afghanistan? How about the judge who sentences someone to 10 years in jail for a crime that he also secretly commits?
Thomas Pogge
November 19, 2007
(changed November 19, 2007)
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A nice triplet of examples!
Let's say that a person is hypocritical just in case s/he (a) publicly endorses a normative position (such as a moral principle or value or norm or end) as valid for all and also (b) deliberately contravenes this normative position.
Your physician may not be hyp... Read more
Are all paradoxes false? That is, when philosophers talk about paradoxes, is it always assumed that there's actually a solution out there which will resolve the problem?
Alexander George
November 18, 2007
(changed November 18, 2007)
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In trying to understand why Quine or others would not countenance antinomies, or real paradoxes, perhaps it would help to add that the conception of paradox in play here is that of an argument, a collection of premises that entails a conclusion. The arguments that appear to be paradox... Read more