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Browsing All Posts filed under »Ethics«
Mass Incarceration And The ‘Overfederalization’ Of Crime
Originally posted on Samir Chopra:
America’s mass incarceration is the bastard child of many. Among them: racism, the War on Drugs (itself a racist business), the evisceration of the Constitution through ideological interpretive strategies, prosecutorial misconduct, police brutality, and so on. Yet other culprits may be found elsewhere, in other precincts of the legal and…
Aristotelian Rape Training: Pornography and Rape Culture
April 8, 2016 by Gordon Hawkes
Someone asked me the other day what I thought about the Jian Ghomeshi case. Jian Ghomeshi, if you aren’t familiar, is a Canadian radio personality who was charged with sexually assaulting women. His accusers described him suddenly turning violent, yanking their hair, slapping them. What was not in dispute in the case was that Ghomeshi […]
Some Thoughts On Punishment (1)
February 24, 2016 by Justin Caouette
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I’ve been thinking a lot about punishment over the past few months. I participated in a symposium over at the Brains Blog where I wrote a bit about moral enhancement and punishment (see here) and yesterday I did a short post over at PhilPercs where I think out loud about trying to justify retributive punishment […]
Assisted Suicide and Personal Autonomy: Freedom of Choice …But Only for the Sick
September 22, 2015 by Gordon Hawkes
On Friday of last week, the state legislature of California passed a bill to allow assisted suicide. If Governor Jerry Brown signs the bill into law, California will become the fifth state in the Union to make assisted suicide legal. How do advocates of assisted suicide justify allowing doctors to assist people in killing themselves? […]
Neuroethics Symposium On Focquaert & Schermer’s, “Moral Enhancement: Do Means Matter Morally?”
August 28, 2015 by Justin Caouette
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There is a great symposium taking place over at the Brains Blog on Focquaert & Shermer’s paper in Neuroethics titled “Moral Enhancement: Do MeansMatter Morally” (See here). Disclaimer: I am one of the commentators on the piece. My commentary can be found here. The symposium is a bit different than most in that there is a […]
On Sustaining Life.
June 15, 2015 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
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This past weekend, the philosophy department here at the University of Calgary hosted a conference on Sustainability with a focus on intergenerational justice. A topic of much debate was what exactly should be sustained/left for future generations. Now, I am very much an outsider to this debate, but one candidate of a necessary (but insufficient) […]
Why is Baltimore Burning?
April 28, 2015 by Justin Caouette
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Originally posted on Pleas and Excuses:
Riots have broken out in Baltimore in response to the death of Freddie Gray, who died due to injuries he received while being transported in a police van. Gray was not buckled in, but was in handcuffs and leg irons, and may have been given a “rough ride,” meaning…
She knows the sound of my motorbike…
April 10, 2015 by Justin Caouette
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Originally posted on Laurel Braitman:
…even when I’m still really far away,” said Jon. “She will start calling out for me before I’ve turned down the road.” Jon has been Mosha’s mahout since she was two years old (now she is five). When she was seven months old, and walking with her mother in the…
Republican Senators Just Voted To Sell Off Your National Forests
April 10, 2015 by Justin Caouette
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This is a TRAVESTY!
Second-Personal Attitudes From the Heart (by Stephen Darwall)
April 8, 2015 by Justin Caouette
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Stephen Darwall has written a very thoughtful post on a class of reactive attitudes that he dubs “attitudes of the heart”. “Heart”, he writes, “in its customary metaphorical sense to refer to that aspect of the human psyche through which we are heartened or disheartened, inspired or deflated, encouraged or discouraged, filled with hope and […]
Psychopaths and Moral Responsibility: The State of the Debate
January 20, 2015 by Justin Caouette
My 5th post over at Flickers is up, check it out here. I’ve copied and pasted it below for those not interested in clicking (and following comments). Cheers! In the last post I suggested that moral responsibility may not come in degrees and based on the discussion that ensued it seems that we are pretty […]
Luck, Choice, and Rationing Health Care
January 12, 2015 by Ray Aldred
According to some philosophers, a feature that matters for assessing inequalities is how the inequality comes about. One theory that assesses inequalities in this way is presented by Ronald Dworkin in a position called “luck egalitarianism.” According to the luck egalitarian, a factor that matters when assessing inequalities in a given situation –and whether these […]
On a Freedom Requirement for Forgiveness
January 10, 2015 by Justin Caouette
My 3rd post over at Flickers of Freedom is up. You can find it here. I’ve copied and pasted it for those of you not interested in seeing how the conversation develops over at Flickers. We have all forgiven someone before. In fact, forgiveness can often serve as a key ingredient in our most cherished […]
Optimistic Skepticism and Forward-Looking Blame
January 8, 2015 by Justin Caouette
Below you can find the post in its entirety. Click here to see the original at flickers of freedom and to join in the discussion if you see fit. OPTIMISTIC SKEPTICISM AND FORWARD-LOOKING BLAME Many philosophers (1) have spent substantial time wrestling with, expanding on, and arguing against the central ideas put forth in P.F. Strawson’s […]
Grinworthy Quotes (5)
January 7, 2015 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Here is a quote from Moses Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed (M. Friedlaender trans., 1923, p. 263) that is particularly appropriate for the holiday season: Wine may be treated as food, if taken as such, but to form parties for the purpose of drinking wine together must be considered more disgraceful than the unrestrained conduct […]
Free Will Skepticism and ‘Ought’ Judgments
January 3, 2015 by Justin Caouette
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You can find the link to my first post at Flickers here. It’s titled “Free Will Skepticism and ‘Ought’ Judgments”. For those of you who have been following APT for some time I posted on this topic here in late 2013. The posts are very different but are on the same topic. In this later […]
Philosophers from Poverty
December 19, 2014 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
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I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in academic philosophy, and/or inequality issues to have a look at this discussion over at the Daily Nous.
What’s Wrong With Torture? Lots!
December 18, 2014 by Justin Caouette
There was an excellent post (and comment thread) over at PEA Soup on torture (see the original post and the excellent discussion thereafter here). I have copied and pasted the original post here, though I highly recommend visiting the original post to read the ensuing discussion in the comment thread. Given the recently released torture […]
Books by Contributors
A Philosopher's Take 
May 15, 2016 by Justin Caouette
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