The study of good and bad conduct, right and wrong values, and good and evil.
“Is it less altruistic to support charities that we sympathise with/relate to, as opposed to supporting all charities within our means?” Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for another head-scratcher! Altruism speaks to our motives, rather than specifically the things we do. We act from altruism when two things happen at once: firstly, when we are motivated […]
Is it less altruistic to support charities that we relate to? Read More
Thank you, Sami Naimat, for a classic question. Some people think that morality varies from person to person. This philosophical position is called moral relativism. There are truths about morality, according to moral relativism, and the truth depends on someone or some society. Even if you and I disagree about morality, we can still both
Is morality relativistic or absolute? Read More
Thank you, Orsolya Kárpáti, for raising a really important question. Let’s start by thinking about the role consent plays in our moral thinking. The first thing we might notice is the difference between consent as an utterance – saying, ‘I agree’ or ‘yeah, sure’ – and morally valid consent. We can say that we consent
Can you buy consent? Read More
“If you are influenced by the idea of someone, then you acquired it without acknowledgement, can it be considered plagiarism?” Thank you, Jong Camallere, for a tricky question. A very large part of what we think and say comes from our interactions with others: what we have seen, heard, learned and read from them. Yet
Is unacknowledged influence plagiarism? Read More
“In a utopian world, free of hate, racism, sexism (all of the prejudiced ‘-isms’ and forms of offence one can fathom), what would people joke about?” Dear Arjun Sambhi, thank you for this complex question. First off: What wouldn’t we joke about? In fact, we’d probably be able to joke and laugh about much more
In a utopia, what would people joke about? Read More
Thank you, Ela Özcan, for a very important question. First, what is it for two people – any two people, regardless of their genders – to be friends? This is a slippery question, with many different answers. But among these answers seem to be three common threads. First, friends must care about each other for
Can men and women be just friends? Read More
Thanks, Kenth Hubert Badiang Francisco! This question is as old as philosophy itself, with the ancient Greeks being especially interested in it. For some, a good life is one in which we have some positive subjective state—like when we experience the fulfillment of some desire or other. For others, it is one in which we
What does it mean to live a good life? Read More
Thank you, Sajad Ali, for this interesting question. Aristotle famously believed that virtue is a mean between two extremes—for example, courage is a mean between recklessness and cowardice. Does this work for the desire for knowledge, too? In particular, can there be an excess of such a desire? There is no name for the virtue
Can the desire for knowledge be considered greedy? Read More
If we do, how do we actually determine that the self exists? Thank you, Danica Aposaga, for such a fundamental question. First, if I may, I think it would be helpful to reverse the questions: how do we actually determine that the self exists, and, if it does exist, will we ever understand it? After
Will we ever understand the self? Read More
Secondly, why do you continue to study it? Hi Arjun! Thanks for the (very interesting) question. There are several reasons why I study philosophy and why I will continue to study it in the future. Let me get straight into the most relevant ones. First of all, part of philosophy is to ask (and try
Why do you study philosophy? Read More
