Thank you, Ayli Inrovdop, for such a topical question. A single vote hardly ever breaks a tie, so what’s the point in voting? To begin, you could vote in the hope of having your own interests represented by the candidate or party that advocates for the policies most advantageous to you. After all, even though […]
Thank you for this intriguing question, Sagar Samant! Let me start by clarifying the question. There are different ways in which you can do a bad thing and ‘don’t let it show’. In some cases, it is obvious that someone has done wrong, but nobody suspects you. For example, you rob a bank and never
Is it wrong to be selfish if you don’t let it show? Read More
Thank you, Hannah Hughes, for such a thoughtful question. As I explore the question, I will assume that by ‘wealthy’, you mean something like having much more money than would be necessary to live without a constant worry about one’s financial situation. I think that there are two moral perspectives to take into account here:
Is it bad to aspire to be wealthy? Read More
Thank you, Charmaine Elaine, for this multi-faceted question. The phrase “taking a stand” can be used to describe a variety of behaviors in different contexts; in what follows, I will consider two interpretations. First, is it wrong not to engage in political activity? Second, is it wrong not to adopt a firm position on a
Is it wrong not to take a stand? Read More
Thank you, George Smith, for such an important question. First, some clarifying remarks. By asking about the relative importance between intention and action, I assume that what is meant by “action” is actually the consequence or outcome of the action. For instance, when Smith shoots Jones, the outcome would be the death, injury, or perhaps,
What is more important: people’s intentions or people’s actions? 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
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, Elle Flinn-Shephard, for such a dilemma! This question touches many important ethical issues. It looks a lot like the famous trolley problem: Imagine that you are the driver of a runaway train. Up ahead you see 5 people tied to the track. If you do nothing, the train will kill them all. But
