Is politicization of science justified? Should science be governed by politics?

By / / Philosophy of science, Political philosophy / , , , ,

Thank you for this crucial question. Aristotle believed that the highest human end is happiness, and that politics (or what Aristotle called “statesmanship”) is the science that directs the political community toward happiness. One possible consequence of this view is that what we nowadays call “science”—the systematic examination of the empirical world—is subordinate to politics […]

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Is nature inherently beautiful? Or is it beautiful only because there are humans to observe its beauty?

By / / Aesthetics, Philosophy of mind / , , , ,

Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for another great question. The natural world is undeniably beautiful. Aesthetically, we appraise majestic mountains as sublime, admire crepuscular rays from a crimson sunset, and appreciate the sound of waves crashing against the rocks. These features of nature are inherently beautiful. By ‘inherently beautiful’, I mean objectively beautiful, which is to

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Is it ethical to buy toys and keep them unopened in their original packings part of a collection and never play with them?

By / / Ethics (Moral Philosophy) / ,

I love this question – thank you, Kate Messenger, for asking it. There are a couple of ways we might look at it, which I will go through before saying my piece. Let’s focus on the fact that you bought the toy. Robert Nozick famously argued that private property is something we get rights to

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Is western philosophy mostly an occult philosophy?

By / / History of philosophy, Logic, Metaphilosophy / , , , ,

Thank you, Emir, for such an intriguing question. I have a bold (many would say foolish) answer for you. I want to suggest that your question is even more correct than you perhaps realise. Western philosophy is, I think, obviously concerned with the occult, at least insomuch as the occult is concerned with things ‘hidden’,

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Can modern political institutions be comprehended without the study of political philosophy?

By / / Epistemology, Political philosophy / ,

Thank you, Zeeshan Ahmed, for an intriguing question. What it means to ‘comprehend’ something is its own interesting philosophical question, and one that’s received less attention that might be expected. However, we can probably say a couple of things to shape our thinking without much controversy. One is that comprehension involves appreciating the structure, or

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Is incarceration more humane than corporal punishment?

By / / Political philosophy / , , , , ,

Thank you Mr Wynn P Wheldon for such a significant question! Michel Foucault wrote extensively on this subject. My answer will be based on some of his insights. First let us understand what is meant by the word “humane”. We usually mean “merciful”, which implies that somehow incarceration is a “softer” kind of punishment than

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Why is evil consistent and the good is faltering?

By / / Epistemology, Ethics (Moral Philosophy) / , , , , , ,

Thank you, TG Dee, for this perennial question. To understand why this seems to be the case, we have to understand what it is to be good or to be evil. It seems to me that to be good involves acting, desiring, feeling, in accordance with certain standards. For multiple reasons it is not easy

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When there is so much suffering in the world, how can we stay positive?

By / / Ethics (Moral Philosophy), Philosophy of mind / , , , ,

Thank you, Mahesh Sonawane, for this very important question! It is one I often struggle with myself (hence my taking far too long to come up with this answer – sorry!), and I will not pretend to have a definitive recipe for optimism for you. However, I hope this can at least help. Something I

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Should we accept death and ageing, or try to beat them with science?

By / / Ethics (Moral Philosophy), Philosophy of science / , , , ,

Thank you, Dávid Mező, for this immortal question. Unsurprisingly, we are living beings that are born, develop, reproduce, and die. This seems almost a necessity. However, we sometimes hear in the media about astonishing advances in the genetics of senescence and the medical treatment of ageing. The subject, if not yet topical today, will most

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