Recent Responses
Do you think that it is correct to teach physical education in separate-sex classes? Isn't this just keeping the sexist divide between girls and boys, where boys say girls cannot play sport?
Karen Jones
April 27, 2007
(changed April 27, 2007)
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I went to an all-girls high school. Girls from that school outperformed girls from the nearby coeducational school in both athletics and academics. Same-sex physical education can be good for girls, challenging them against the highest standards of female athleticism. But of course sometimes it i... Read more
We know that after images are formed as a result of latency in the retinas of our eyes. So if they are in our eyes or, more likely, in our brains, why do we see them in front of our eyes? How do they get out there?
Peter Lipton
April 26, 2007
(changed April 26, 2007)
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The good news is that this feature of after-images seems no more difficult to explain than how we see physical object like a table 'out there'. True, there is an actual table out there while there is nothing corresponding to the after image out there, but this makes no difference. In both case... Read more
When I was a feminist member of a conservative church, I adopted an anti-pornography feminism as a way of reconciling my religion with my leftist values, but when I became an agnostic, I found myself moving towards sex-positive feminism (although retaining a role for the other kind of feminism within the public domain, or wherever the bounds of freedom and mutual consent would be exceeded by the production or display of pornography). Given its tendency to elicit support from the religious right, does anti-pornography feminism, especially of the more dogmatic type which assumes rather than proves harm from pornography, betray a quasi-religious and sex-negative world-view?
Alan Soble
April 26, 2007
(changed April 26, 2007)
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In response to the question, posed at the end---"Given its tendency to elicit support from the religious right, does anti-pornography feminism, especially of the moredogmatic type which assumes rather than proves harm from pornography,betray a quasi-religious and sex-negative world-view?"---I woul... Read more
Is there wisdom which actually cannot be fully expressed except in poetry or literature or art? Or is addressing philosophical questions in such an "artistic" manner just a way of jazzing up an argument which could have stood cut-and-dried, anyway? Is there anything Homer could teach us which Plato could not?
Elisabeth Camp
April 26, 2007
(changed April 26, 2007)
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As Nicholas suggests, it partly depends upon what you mean by 'wisdom'. Many philosophers (and others) have been attracted to the idea thatart provides a kind of experientially-based 'insight' that pureargumentation cannot supply. One possibility here is that there are properties or propo... Read more
Can a non-human animal be cruel? Is it cruel of a hawk to kill a squirrel? Or of a cat to bat around a mouse before killing it?
Nicholas D. Smith
April 26, 2007
(changed April 26, 2007)
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I think it is reasonable to suppose that in order to have the character defect of being cruel (and thus, in order to act not just as a cruel thing would act, but actually to act cruelly) the being in question has to be able to do something like deliberate about the moral or ethical value of... Read more
Is there wisdom which actually cannot be fully expressed except in poetry or literature or art? Or is addressing philosophical questions in such an "artistic" manner just a way of jazzing up an argument which could have stood cut-and-dried, anyway? Is there anything Homer could teach us which Plato could not?
Elisabeth Camp
April 26, 2007
(changed April 26, 2007)
Permalink
As Nicholas suggests, it partly depends upon what you mean by 'wisdom'. Many philosophers (and others) have been attracted to the idea thatart provides a kind of experientially-based 'insight' that pureargumentation cannot supply. One possibility here is that there are properties or propo... Read more
Are statements about probability universal truths? Is it possible to conceive of a universe in which a fair coin lands heads 75% and tails 25% of the time?
Marc Lange
April 26, 2007
(changed April 26, 2007)
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A fair coin may land "heads" over and over again, as we all know. As the number of tosses increases without bound, the likelihood of the coin's landing exclusively on "heads" becomes arbitrarily small. So in the limit, the likelihood of its landing "heads" over and over (or even 75% of the time) i... Read more
Are statements about probability universal truths? Is it possible to conceive of a universe in which a fair coin lands heads 75% and tails 25% of the time?
Marc Lange
April 26, 2007
(changed April 26, 2007)
Permalink
A fair coin may land "heads" over and over again, as we all know. As the number of tosses increases without bound, the likelihood of the coin's landing exclusively on "heads" becomes arbitrarily small. So in the limit, the likelihood of its landing "heads" over and over (or even 75% of the time) i... Read more
In a public place, let us say a dormitory common area, should I be expected to constantly watch my tongue for fear of offending a strictly religious peer of mine? I could understand being expected to not jabber about how I hate God right outside her door, but does she have a right to demand I respect her beliefs when talking about subjects taboo for her in a said common room? I never go out of my way to offend her, but her beliefs structure is so strict she may explode on me for talking about and number of topics from Wicca to cyborgs. Where do I draw the line where she is forcing her beliefs on me and I am disrespecting her? She has a short temper and I have a very hard time compromising. Any suggestions?
Miranda Fricker
April 23, 2007
(changed April 23, 2007)
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One liberal conception of how to delineate the proper freedom of expression among conflicting views insists that people have the right to offend each other, and (more positively) that there is a mutual respect inherent in disagreement, even when that disagreement causes offence. Now, if that'... Read more
Vaughan Williams' music has been termed 'nationalistic', or 'spiritual'. Would you construe these terms as metaphorical? They have been used to decribe and categorize his music, have been seen as attributive, and his music has been known for these qualities for generations. I would really appreciate a comment on your view of 'nationalism' as metaphor for a body of music.
Joseph G. Moore
April 23, 2007
(changed April 23, 2007)
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I won't comment on Vaughan Williams's music in particular, but I certainly think music that evokes and celebrates a certain nationality can accurately be described as 'nationalistic'. And I don't see that such a description is any more metaphorical than many of the other descriptions we emplo... Read more