Thank you, Mohammed Ajmi, for this timely question. In many respects, our societies are safer than the ones in which our ancestors lived. At the same time, however, it could be argued that humanity has never been so under threat as it is now. Think of the existence of weapons of mass destruction (especially when […]
Thank you, Carmen Plaza, for such a perplexing question. Nature is in some ways chaotic, and we therefore all seek, as human beings, to fit into a social structure (cities, universities, jobs, etc.) which precedes our own existence and yet changes with it. We do this for evolutionary reasons, and it influences heavily what we
‘Considerations: (1) cats are carnivores; (2) pet food is derived from factory farmed animals; (3) factory farming has implications for the suffering of animals and the environment. As someone committed to reducing animal suffering but also loves a couple kittens he’s fostering, I’m pretty stuck on this.’ I can relate very much to this question.
Is it ethical to adopt a cat? Read More
Thank you, Jong Camallere, for this very interesting question. Courage is a central element of many lists of virtues and it is certainly not difficult to understand why: people willing to take a stand for what they think is right serve as great role models. The adventures of great warriors also make for more exciting
Is courage the most important virtue? Read More
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, 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, Brian Eckelman, for such a perceptive question. It is a massive question. Here, I will focus just on what creates our understanding of reality within society. I want to draw a separation between ‘real effects’ and ‘reality’: something can have a real effect upon us, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is
Does perception dictate reality? Read More
Thank you, Eoin Martin, for this lovely question! There are lots of ways you could go about tackling it. I want to look a bit closer at the central concept: attractiveness. In my answer, I will be talking about how attractiveness works, what plays a role in determining how attractive someone is, in the hope
Are men or women more attractive? Read More
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
Thank you, Frankie Belton, for such a stirring question! When we ask a question about whether something (A) is necessarily something else (B), we are asking whether there can ever be an A that is not also a B. In other words, what we are asking is not whether there are A’s that are also
Is masculinity necessarily toxic? Read More
