The study of good and bad conduct, right and wrong values, and good and evil.
Not just tangible possessions, but more generally positive life happenings, e.g. to fall in love, to have children, etc. Thank you, Gracie Mrry, for such an interesting question. This is an interesting question for people like me who find themselves in a condition of relative privilege, but questions of desert can apply to anyone’s life, […]
Do we deserve things? Read More
Thank you, Arya Amritansu, for such an important question. To answer these questions it is first necessary to clarify what we mean when we talk of “hate speech”. Hate speech is speech that attacks people in virtue of their membership in a racial, religious, ethnic, sexual or other group. In other words, hate speech is
Why does hate speech cause harm? And can we quantify the harm caused? Read More
Thank you, Coffee Jelly, for a great question! Vengeance is usually defined as punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong (thank you, Google). The question is: Is an act of vengeance – call it, X – ever justifiable? An action can be justified in different ways. Is X legally justifiable? That would
Is vengeance ever justifiable? Read More
Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for such an important question! I will do my best to capture its complexity and implications. Imagine Juliet, a white American philosophy professor. As many academics, Juliet is liberal and fiercely against racism in any shape or form. She is informed of systemic racism in American society, and she is a
Thank you, Heather Bennett, for a very important question. When we ask whether we should hold historical figures to the standard of modern morality, there is perhaps an implicit premise that the societies of the past and our own society have different moral standards. This may assume that moral standards are sensitive to different cultures
Thanks, Miguel Pineda, for this intriguing question! Before we can think about how morality and altruism are related, we first need to get clear on what we mean by ‘morality’ and ‘altruism’. Moral philosophers, like the rest of us, generally agree at least roughly about what moral norms require. Don’t kill, don’t lie, don’t steal
Is morality just altruism? Read More
Thank you, Roy Head, for such an interesting question! Hopefully this will help… Imagine you are in your house quietly watching your 10th episode of The Great British Baking Show while drinking wine out of a coffee mug when, all of a sudden, you hear a desperate knock on the door. You tear yourself away
Is honesty always the best policy? Read More
Thank you, Will Baker, for a great question! I believe that it is based on two assumptions: first, that the wellbeing of the aggregate and the wellbeing of the individual are somehow opposed, thus leading us to the dilemma whether one should be chosen over the other; and, second, that wellbeing is somehow measurable. But
Thank you, Ela Özcan, for such a topical question! Online trolling is a tricky issue, and your question needs to be analysed carefully for a proper answer. We need to start by defining exactly what we mean by trolling. Many use the term just to describe aggressive behavior online: trolls, here, are people who tend
Why do people troll? Read More
Thank you, Alex Impey, for such an alien question! There are of course no straight philosophical answers to big questions. Everything is a matter of first uncovering the unconscious or implicit premises of the question, and then making further qualifications about what is being asked in order to sketch out the possibilities. This interesting question
Does it matter if aliens exist? Read More
