When thinking about triage situations, it's common for people to assume that saving lives (as many of them as possible) should be our moral goal. But this is wrong, for the straightforward reason that some deaths are vastly more tragic than others.It's worth bearing in mind that lives can't be saved, but only extended. So …
Continue reading "“Lives” are the Wrong Measure — Philosophy News"
[New Entry by Marcus P. Adams on March 8, 2019.] Thomas Hobbes is rightly regarded as a monumental figure in the history of philosophy, especially for his masterpiece Leviathan (1651 in English; 1668 in Latin). The scholarly literature on Leviathan is voluminous and has been especially focused upon issues in political philosophy, such as representation… via …
Continue reading "Hobbes’ Philosophy of Science — Philosophy News"
By Martha C. Nussbaum from The New York Times, The Big Ideas - Opinion Over time, the idea of “being human” has surely meant — and will continue to mean — many things. There is and has never been just one answer. But surely one thing it ought to involve today is the ability to …
A thought-provoking article posted on Aeon.co, written by Julian Baggini is an excellent treatise on the relevance, and need, for the philosophy of Hume and others, and how philosophy can serve us well in this age of skepticism, individualism, and the need for genuine human sympathy. Socrates died by drinking hemlock, condemned to death by …
Appreciate what you have, who you are, and the gifts you've been given. We're all here but for a blink of an eye. Despite the hyper-commercialized world in which we live, no amount of money or fame will save any of us from our shared - and equal, fate. Love deeply - be gentle - …
The inner life of plants arouses the passions of even the mildest-mannered naturalists. A debate over plant consciousness and intelligence has raged in scientific circles for well over a century—at least since Charles Darwin observed in 1880 that stressed-out flora can’t rest. There’s no doubt that plants are extremely complex. Biologists believe that plants communicate… via …
We live in opinionated times. Between a relentless news cycle and deep ideological divides, we feel pressure to take positions quickly, often on stories that are still developing, or on topics we know little about. If we don’t come to a quick conclusion and choose a side, it can feel like we’re letting the proverbial… via …
The Northern Herper 