Subscribe:
RSS feed
A group of bloggers discussing philosophical ideas as well as the profession of philosophy
Browsing All Posts filed under »Ethics«
‘Get Out’, ‘Black Lives Matter’, and the Different Dimensions of Racism: Some Parallels to Kate Manne’s Misogyny Concept
When a semester is in session I try to avoid reading philosophy outside of work hours. Usually, I prefer easy reads on topics related to science fiction, fantasy, and popular science. But recently I made an exception to this, as I started reading Kate Manne’s Down Girl (OUP 2018). I heard a lot about the […]
Form-Over-Content Morality: Denying Service
June 26, 2018 by James DiGiovanna
Charges of hypocrisy are popular in the current political landscape, and hypocrisy is certainly a vice, if a minor one. But much of what’s going on in these charges is an emphasis on form over content. To say any action is immoral requires an understanding of what it is in reaction to. Spitting in my […]
The Moral Value of Compassion
It was an honour to contribute to Justin Caouette and Carolyn Price’s book The Moral Psychology of Compassion. They did an excellent job of putting together such an interesting collection and I’m really happy to have been a part of it. I have also enjoyed the interesting recent exchange on this blog between David Boutland and […]
CFA: The 2018 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference (PGBC)
April 13, 2018 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on CFA: The 2018 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference (PGBC)
Great opportunity for MA and PHD students to share their work. See the CFA below (deadline is May 1st!): The 2018 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference (PGBC) is hosted by the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London. The event will be held on the 23rd and 24th of July, 2018, at King’s College London’s Strand and Waterloo Campuses (situated in central London). The PGBC is […]
On the Concept of Cheating
April 12, 2018 by Justin Caouette
A while back I blogged over at PhilPercs about the concept of cheating. That blog post was the seed that grew into a forthcoming co-authored publication aptly titled “Cheating and Enhancement: Implications for Policy in Sport” (and who says blogging is a waste of time?!). Below is a summary of that initial post where I posed […]
Powerful Medicine; a dimension of the Nassar case
January 27, 2018 by Joshua Stein
I want to start this post with a really clear content notice; if you’re uncomfortable with or likely to be triggered by descriptions of sexual assault, you may want to gird yourself or take a pass on this post entirely. I experienced nausea myself in reading the accounts, but I don’t think it is really […]
Failures in teaching, discipline
November 21, 2017 by Joshua Stein
A few notes before I get into the nitty gritty of this issue: I’m a graduate student at the University of Calgary, a member of the university’s Graduate Student Association (our union), and the president of the philosophy department’s affiliated Graduate Student Association chapter. Nothing I say in this post is made in those roles; […]
On the Nature of Forgiveness
September 26, 2017 by Justin Caouette
Many moons ago I wrote a very brief blog post on the nature of forgiveness. Since then I’ve presented some work on forgiveness, I’ve edited a collection where forgiveness was one of the chapters discussed in the volume, and I’ve read tons on the subject. I’m sad to report that forgiveness still evades me. Though […]
On the So Called “Grey Areas” of Sexual Consent
May 20, 2017 by Ray Aldred
Sexual consent has been the foundation of sexual ethics for many modern thinkers of sexuality. The notion itself stretches back to at least Immanuel Kant, who presented some arguments for why we should generally respect an individual’s autonomy. Respect for autonomy is the idea that we should respect a person’s capacity to make self-governing decisions […]
Cognitive Dissonance and Philosophy
April 5, 2017 by Mike Steiner
I want to first give credit to the authors of “Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)” – Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. Their talk of cognitive dissonance and the metaphor of the ‘pyramid of choice’ has inspired my comments below. Although the ideas in this book have obvious ramifications for psychology, psychotherapy, political science, […]
CFP: 6th Annual UCalgary Graduate Philosophy Conference – Ethics in the Age of Science
January 20, 2017 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on CFP: 6th Annual UCalgary Graduate Philosophy Conference – Ethics in the Age of Science
CALL FOR PAPERS AND ABSTRACTS 6th Annual University of Calgary Graduate Philosophy Conference Topic: Ethics in the Age of Science Conference Date: May 3, 2017 – May 4, 2017 This year’s graduate conference topic will be ETHICS IN THE AGE OF SCIENCE. Papers written in any area of applied or normative ethics will be […]
On ‘Ought Implies Can’ in Ethics and Epistemology
August 31, 2016 by Justin Caouette
I recently got into a discussion about the ‘ought implies can’ (OIC) principle on social media. The poster suggested that he bought the principle in ethics but maybe not in epistemology. Disclaimer: I buy it wholeheartedly in ethics, and I’m inclined to buy it in epistemology as well. But pulling apart OIC in different realms […]
Proposition 60, Pornography, and Sex Work
August 14, 2016 by Joshua Stein
I’ve debated for a long time whether this is something that I wanted to talk about in public writing; I have a lot of thoughts about ethics and sex work, but generally keep them close to the vest. Given that this concerns a health and public policy issue, I thought it appropriate to post my first […]
On Breed Specific Legislation, Public Safety, and Why The Research Matters
July 16, 2016 by Alison K McConwell
There is recent nation-wide attention to animal control issues concerning dogs in Canada. The target is “pit bulls” or dogs with traits that resemble particular characteristics of breeds included in this generic term. One common response to serious dog bites and maulings is to lobby for a ban of particular breeds by enacting Breed Specific […]
Programmable Friends
June 18, 2016 by James DiGiovanna
While robots were originally conceived of as laborers, advances in AI and emotional modeling have led to “companion robots” like Aldebaran’s Pepper and Intelligent Systems Co.’s Paro. But a companion is fundamentally unlike a standard worker[1]: labor is by its nature fungible, and companions, if we understand companions as something like friends, are, presumably, non-fungible. Workers […]
Have Gun, Will Settle Dispute: The Dangerous, Alluring Temptation
June 14, 2016 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on Have Gun, Will Settle Dispute: The Dangerous, Alluring Temptation
Originally posted on Samir Chopra:
I’ve seen fights, disputes, grow, fester, erupt into bouts of violence: disagreements become irrevocable, boundaries are crossed, and then, tempers flare. Punches and slaps are thrown, sometimes half-heartedly, sometimes in a desperate flurry, sometimes shirt collars are grabbed as the ‘fight’ turns into an ungainly grappling session with headholds and…
CFP: 2016 Workshop on Exploitation and Coercion (Carnegie Mellon University)
June 9, 2016 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on CFP: 2016 Workshop on Exploitation and Coercion (Carnegie Mellon University)
You can find the original CFP here. Below is a summary of what can be found on the official workshop website. I love the workshop format and will be hosting a workshop in Calgary next spring tentatively titled: Ethics in the Age of Neuroscience (stay tuned for that call in the coming months). Thanks to Liam […]
Books by Contributors
A Philosopher's Take 
July 20, 2018 by Celso Neto
Comments Off on ‘Get Out’, ‘Black Lives Matter’, and the Different Dimensions of Racism: Some Parallels to Kate Manne’s Misogyny Concept