Bridgewater State University recently published a profile of our very own Dr. Justin Caouette outlining what many people close to him already know: Justin is currently making a difference in the lives of students attending BSU. Many of us (myself included) who are first generation college students–students with neither parent having attended college–are often faced […]
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 […]
March 23, 2018 by Justin Caouette
When projects come to completion it’s always a really good feeling! So, it goes without saying that I’m excited to announce the release of my new co-edited collection on the Moral Psychology of Compassion (with Rowman and Littlefield). I’m excited about this volume for several reasons. First, it’s diverse! There are a number of perspectives […]
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 […]
August 28, 2017 by Justin Caouette
***The following post was authored by a professor of philosophy in North America that wishes to remain anonymous. They say that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Well, I have studied history books, and here’s a history lesson. Several decades ago, a boorish man with no morals came to hold […]
June 6, 2017 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on ‘A Philosopher’s Take’ Turns 5 Years Old
A few weeks ago ‘A Philosopher’s Take’ turned 5 years old! I just wanted to say thanks to our contributors, our editors, and most of all to our readers for checking in and engaging on the blog with the ideas of all of our contributors. I speak for all of us when I say that […]
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 […]
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…
May 15, 2016 by Justin Caouette
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…
May 11, 2016 by Justin Caouette
Originally posted on Samir Chopra:
Stephen Jay Gould‘s famous ‘Two Separate Domains‘ argues, roughly, that religion and science operate in different domains of inquiry, and as such do not conflict with each other: We get the age of rocks, and religion retains the rock of ages; we study how the heavens go, and they determine…
February 24, 2016 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on Some Thoughts On Punishment (1)
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 […]
October 16, 2015 by Justin Caouette
First off, I’d like to apologize for not blogging much these days. I’m in the midst of filling out academic job applications, finishing my dissertation, presenting at conferences, and taking on tons of side projects (edited collection on the moral psychology of compassion, a few book chapters for various volumes on free will and emotions, […]
October 14, 2015 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on The Science-Pseudoscience Demarcation Problem
Source: The science-pseudoscience demarcation problem
September 24, 2015 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on Schliesser on Shortening the PhD
I often reflect on my experiences in graduate school, especially now that they are coming to an end, and for what it’s worth I plan on writing about these crazy times when I come up for air in a few years (It’s been 7 years between getting my M.A from Washington State Uni. and now entering […]
September 8, 2015 by Justin Caouette
Cross posted over at the Philosopher’s Cocoon (see here with nice comments and further questions in the thread) A week or so ago I received an email asking me to review a paper for a journal, this is not the first such email I have received asking this service of me. It seems that the […]
September 3, 2015 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on What’s Wrong With Punishing Children?
Originally posted on What's Wrong?:
(image: spanking) UCLA graduate student Laura Gillespie gave an intriguing talk on childhood punishment at this year’s Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress. In it, she proposed a novel account that would justify the practice in at least some cases. For those who were unable to attend her presentation, she has…
August 28, 2015 by Justin Caouette
Comments Off on Neuroethics Symposium On Focquaert & Schermer’s, “Moral Enhancement: Do Means Matter Morally?”
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 […]
October 2, 2018 by Alison K McConwell
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