“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, 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
Why is evil consistent and the good is faltering? Read More
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, Gum Makur Gum, for such a perennial question! What does it mean to exist? Until Kant, many philosophers thought that existence was a property of a substance, much like color, weight, mass, etc. Saying that “This flower is red” was similar to saying that “This flower exists”, meaning that the flower had the
Thank you, Curtis L. Delyn, for such a significant question. It is generally agreed that Plato came up with the classical definition of knowledge as “justified true belief”. This has been incredibly influential; many philosophers have accepted some form of this definition by filling in the relevant concepts with various theories and interpretations. Here, truth
Can we ever really trust that we know anything? 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, Daniel Riggins, for a significant question, one that concerns all teachers and students of philosophy. Let me begin with a word of caution: I shall be discussing only Western philosophy, since that is my area of expertise. I cannot comment on philosophical traditions from different parts of the world, simply because I lack
How should philosophy be introduced? 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
