On the women-friendliness of epistemology: a challenge
Posted in Certain Doubts on May 7, 2012 by Sandy Goldberg
1986 Schwinn Le Tour Revamp — 1
Yesterday I bought a 1986 Schwinn Le Tour for $80 off Craigslist. I’ve done minor repair work on bikes, but never major overhauls so I thought it would be fun to get a bike that’s in decent shape and tune it up, make some significant upgrades, fix some cosmetic issues, and document the process here.
Animals, Outrage, and Conscience
Sometimes moral outrage is appropriate. It would be strange for someone of conscience to dine with a bigot. But a vegetarian is expected to eat, work, and live with those who eat meat. Given that some vegetarians consider non-human animals to be persons, this expectation is out of step with standard views about what conscience requires.
Violence & Shameful Joy
Most of us would agree that it’s wrong to bludgeon someone with a baseball bat and take their car. Yet many of us take joy from simulating that act in a video game. This strikes me as wrong.
Torture, Rights, & Supreme Emergencies
A right isn’t just something that’s good, something to be maximized or traded. That’s the role of an interest. The constraints on behavior that a right imposes, if it is to be significant at all, must be inviolable in a way constraints imposed by mere interests are not. But this saves the significance of rights at the cost of their existence; if the constraints imposed by […]
The Limits of Compensation
Thanksgiving is a time to come together with friends and family and discuss distributive justice and the limits of compensation. What? No? Is that just me?
Alan Turing the Imitation Game
The Imitation Game is released in local theaters on Friday, so it seems a good time to discuss the philosophy of mind of the film’s protagonist, Alan Turing.
Michael Brown, Darren Wilson, & the Monopoly On Violence
If one citizen threatens another, the police may be called on to intervene. When the police threaten a citizen, to whom can we turn?
Social Opprobrium & National Sovereignty
Julien Blanc is a self-described pick-up artist, making his living giving seminars to men on how to manipulate women into having sex with them. Let me be absolutely clear: I roundly condemn Julien Blanc’s behavior and chosen career. However…
The “Paradox” of Plenty
There is enough food to go around, and yet many in the world do not have enough to eat. Is this a paradox or a travesty?