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A group of bloggers discussing philosophical ideas as well as the profession of philosophy
Browsing All posts tagged under »Ethics«
On the So Called “Grey Areas” of Sexual Consent
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 […]
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 […]
Grinworthy Quotes (3)
October 30, 2014 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Sorry for the gap between quotes. Here is Giovanni Boccaccio on philosophers and marriage from The early lives of Dante (New York: Frederick Unger, 1963, pp. 24–5): Philosopher’s should leave [marriage] to wealthy fools, to noblemen, and to peasants, while they themselves find delight in philosophy, a far better bride than any other. I doubt […]
University of Calgary Graduate Workshop on Gender Equality in Philosophy
November 13, 2013 by Justin Caouette
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I am pleased to announce that the University of Calgary Philosophy Department will be having a workshop on Gender Equality in Philosophy. Our discipline has a gender problem and the purpose of the workshop is to introduce the graduate student body to some of the important factual, theoretical, and practical debates regarding this problem. Broadly, […]
A Dilemma Concerning Moral Obligation
November 4, 2013 by Justin Caouette
There seems to be a dilemma that has not been addressed much in the literature (a dilemma I have hinted at in the past) that concerns freedom and the deontic appraisals of moral obligation, right, and wrong. The dilemma arises when we combine the hard incompatibilist stance regarding the truth of two doctrines coupled with […]
Submitting to Conferences
August 26, 2013 by Justin Caouette
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I recently posed a question over at The Philosopher’s Cocoon regarding whether or not one should apply to multiple conferences that have the same date. I’d be curious to hear from those in the discipline on whether one should do so. Thanks in advance. -Justin
The Nature of Blame
September 26, 2012 by Justin Caouette
What is the nature of blame? Recently, I took my prelim exam in the Philosophy of Mind and one of the questions I answered was on the reactive attitudes and their effect on how we perceive what the nature of blame is. I found the question quite intriguing, and, the purpose of this post will be […]
James Holmes: How his case can shed light on discussions of Moral Responsibility.
July 24, 2012 by Justin Caouette
In a recent blog post in Scientific American the author, Larry Geenemeier, suggests that the accused Colorado Shooter was lacking cognitive control and points specifically to one’s cognitive ability in order to try to make sense of the actions in Aurora, Colorado and other recent events by similarly profiled assailants. Though I agree that we […]
Obamacare: Are the Libertarian Oppositions to the SCOTUS decision warranted?
July 10, 2012 by Justin Caouette
By now, nearly everyone with access to this blog knows that SCOTUS has upheld the Obamacare bill. This has caused an uproar with Libertarian folks as well as those who might not call themselves Libertarians but who think gov’t telling them what they must buy is inappropriate. I’ll be discussing the objections levied by the […]
Ending Federal Student Aid Would Only Hurt the Poor
June 21, 2012 by Justin Caouette
Antony Davies has recently given a really brief pod cast as to how the student loan crisis is similar and even worse to the housing bubble that popped a few years back (it’s worth a look, only 4 minutes long). I think he’s right that this is a major problem. He suggests (as do many […]
Parental Obligation, Abortion, and Choice
June 19, 2012 by Justin Caouette
Many of those that believe a woman should have a right to choose (whether to abort or keep her baby) also believe that men should have to pay child support, but, is holding both of these statements consistent? Fairly recently, feminist philosopher Elizabeth Brake (2005) has argued that it’s inconsistent and unfair to hold that […]
Organ Procurement: Are Changes Needed to Ensure Fairness?
June 12, 2012 by Justin Caouette
In this short post I’ll be asking two important and related questions regarding organ procurement as it is currently practiced: (1) Are the currently policies surrounding organ transplantation fair? And, (2) Is it practical to make changes to the current policies? Here I’ll deal mostly with question (1) and offer only some brief remarks with […]
Is ‘Flopping’ a Form of Cheating in Basketball?
June 6, 2012 by Justin Caouette
Yesterday, while watching game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals I witnessed a flop in the 4th quarter by Boston Celtics player Ray Allen. Watching him flop (by flop I am referring to acting as if a player was fouled when in fact the player wasn’t in an attempt to convince the refs that […]
Vegetarianism, Food Selection, and the Trolley Problem (Part 2)
June 2, 2012 by Justin Caouette
Do stereo typical meat eaters value the lives of animals more than plants? As stated in an earlier post, I think that they do. If this is the case, then it seems that when making food selections it would be inconsistent for the meat-eater to choose animal meat over the vegetarian option assuming that they […]
Vegetarianism, Food Selection, and the Trolley Problem (Part 1)
June 1, 2012 by Justin Caouette
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We all must eat to survive, this statement is uncontroversial. With that said, we are all forced to answer a question; (a) what should we eat? When trying to answer (a) should certain foods be off-limits? In other words, should our choices be limited by ethical concerns? I think so, and I’m sure that almost […]
Are Meat Eaters Committed to the Moral Permissibility of Cannibalism?
May 29, 2012 by Justin Caouette
Since becoming a vegetarian two years ago I’ve come across various justifications for why I should see eating meat as morally permissible. I have yet to be convinced that any of these proposals are morally acceptable. Here, I focus on three main justifications for eating meat and offer some responses as to why I do […]
Psychopaths: Morally Responsible?
May 24, 2012 by Justin Caouette
In April I gave a talk at a Free Will/ Moral Responsibility conference near my hometown in Massachusetts on the culpability of psychopaths. There, I argued that psychopaths are morally responsible for their actions because they have the necessary cognitive mechanisms one needs to properly judge an action as morally right or morally wrong. Now […]
Some Opening Remarks
May 22, 2012 by Justin Caouette
My aim for setting up this blog is to foster an intellectual web discussion by both philosopher’s and non-philosopher’s alike by raising some concerns and posing some questions that come about while researching in the areas of Ethics, Metaphysics, and Epistemology. I invite comments and discussion from all disciplines and not only from my colleagues […]
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A Philosopher's Take 
May 20, 2017 by Ray Aldred
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