THE BLOG@PHILOSOPHERS' CORNER
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THE BLOG@PHILOSOPHERS' CORNER
Truth and Progress in Philosophy
06
Jun 2017
Students of philosophy might sometimes get frustrated because they don’t get definitive answers to the sorts of questions that philosophers ask. But are these frustrations based on a misconception of the relationship between truth and progress in philosophy?
Read moreAi Weiwei: How Censorship Works
05
Jun 2017
How does censorship really work? And what are its effects? To what extent are ordinary citizens responsible for government censorship? Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei takes to The Stone to make his case.
Read moreQueerness
04
Jun 2017
Is queerness something that all lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people have in common? Is it a sexual identity, a political identity, both, or something else entirely? Sometimes “queer” is used as a slur, yet there are many people who proudly self-identify as queer.
Read more[VIDEO] What Makes for a Good Life?
02
Jun 2017
It's one of philosophy's greatest and oldest questions: how should we live our lives? Seeking pleasure? Knowledge? Self-actualization? Is there meaning to be found in this life? Must we create it ourselves?
Read moreA Deep Dive into Democracy
01
Jun 2017
America’s so-called democracy is under serious strain these days. Some fear that the system may soon be stressed to the breaking point. So we thought we’d start out the summer with a deeper look at Democracy in America.
Read moreNietzsche, Schmitt, and the Alt-Right
30
May 2017
Journalist Graeme Wood recently interviewed Richard Spencer, one of the leaders of the alt-right and a noted fascist. Spencer draws inspiration from philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Carl Schmitt. But is his interpretation of those philosophers fair?
Read moreThe Lifespan of a Genre
24
May 2017
Why do your musical tastes get frozen over in your twenties? What does this stagnation have to do with the evolution and historicization of music genres? Should we encourage ourselves to listen to new music past our 30s?
Read more[AUDIO] When Driverless Cars Go Wrong
23
May 2017
Driverless cars promise to make driving safer. Biut with the inevitability of accidents, who is to blame for the harm caused by them? Does responsibility lie with the car manufacturers, or must we simply accept that we cannot sometimes accidents will happen?
Read moreDoes Work Give Our Lives Meaning?
19
May 2017
The possibility of a world without work is making plenty of people nervous: what would it look like, will it actually be good for us, will life even be meaningful anymore? Is meaning the value by which we should be evaluating a world without work?
Read moreEnvisioning Eastern Hegemony
18
May 2017
What would a world run by Eastern values look like? Would the world look meaningfully different under Eastern versus Western hegemony. Or would there just be different groups of people running roughly similarly structured institutions?
Read more[COMIC] Postmodernism Attacks!
17
May 2017
There lingers an ominous line a thought in today's minds... it has infected experienced intellectuals and millennials alike, putting a spoke in the wheels of centuries of intellectual progress. Can the metaphysicians of the past join their powers to defeat this dangerous foe?
Read moreCan Free Speech Exclude?
16
May 2017
Do bigots have an equal right to free speech? Do the marginalized have the right to silence bigots? Is excluding certain voices the best way to fight against oppression and marginalization?
Read moreShould Belief Aim at Truth?
13
May 2017
Should your beliefs aim at the truth? Or should you just believe whatever makes your life better, whether it’s true or not? How could false beliefs ever make your life better?
Read moreBecause You Are, I Am
12
May 2017
The phrase "I think, therefore I am" or "Cogito ergo sum" might make Descartes the most-quoted philosopher of the last 400 years. But what’s the role of other people in the self? Does the self really come from one person’s solitary mind—or do the people around us inform who we refer to when we use the word “I”?
Read moreWatered-down Philosophy for Tech Bros
11
May 2017
So-called "practical" philosophy is gaining popularity in Silicon Valley among tech executives who want to eliminate "bullshit" in their business lives. But is this trend doing more harm than good for the discipline? Does the notion that there is a "practical" philosophy imply that any philosophy not catering to the tech bro is therefore "impractical"?
Read moreNozick, Libertarianism, and Philosophy
10
May 2017
What are the merits of Robert Nozick's libertarian, small-government philosophy? Why did Nozick move away from libertarianism as his views on philosophy changed? And what was his vision for the future of analytic philosophy?
Read moreThe Limits of Medical Consent
08
May 2017
Is it ever permissible to force medical treatment on a patient against their will? What if they are so emotionally distraught that they can’t think straight? What if they might die without the treatment?
Read more[AUDIO] What Constitutes Consent?
05
May 2017
California law defines sexual consent as "Yes means Yes". In other words, the consent is "affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity," that can be revoked at any time. However, does this definition properly capture what constitutes consent?
Read moreDefense of Transracialism Goes Awry
04
May 2017
In a recent article titled "In Defense of Transracialism" for the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia, philosopher Rebecca Tuvel penned a defense of "transracialism" through an argument that the logic which supports transgender individuals also should lead one to support transracial individuals in their decision to "change" races.
Read moreIs Human Monogamy Genetic?
03
May 2017
Are humans "genetically programmed" towards monogamy? Does monogamy ensure that offspring are cared for? What bearing does this have on the ethics of cheating in a romantic relationship? And how do we account for polyamory?
Read moreAll Machine and No Ghost
02
May 2017
Hillary Clinton, E.T., and the Terminator walk into a bar, and plop themselves down on stools, and they each order a beer. How do physicalist theories of mind explain what's going on in their respective minds? Read our third and final installment on the mind-body problem to find out.
Read moreSlower Reading for Better Philosophy
01
May 2017
A new book by Michelle Boulous Walker, Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution, critiques the rapid tempos that adversely affect our relation to the world. Boulous Walker's focus is how something is lost for philosophy, both as an activity and a discipline, when it has to meet a certain pace of reading and production.
Read moreWhy We Need Public Philosophy
28
Apr 2017
The world is a cruel place that has no shortage of suffering. It is no wonder that scholars of all stripes have been pulled by the gravity of the moment to redirect their intellectual talents and capacities for research toward more immediately pressing and urgent questions. It is why public philosophy is more important than ever.
Read more#FrancisOnFilm: Cezanne et Moi
27
Apr 2017
What makes a friend? Cézanne et Moi is the story of the friendship between Émile Zola and Paul Cézanne. It is also a complex commentary on friendship itself: what friends owe each other, what friends should do for each other, and what breaks the bonds of friendship.
Read more[AUDIO] Political Utopias: Just Wishful Thinking?
26
Apr 2017
Are the political utopias we imagine simply a product of wishful thinking? Can we be too caught up in the promises of theory to see beyond our rose-colored glasses? Or are these utopias real objects to aim for, despite how far away they may seem?
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