Official Website for Amitabha Palmer
Mill would might respond to Arnold one of 2 ways. First, he might say that while pain might sometimes be an instrumental good, it is not a good in itself (unlike pleasure). Therefore, pain cannot be pleasure. Second, he might respond that Arnold is confused. He seems to be saying that, for him, growing is […]
Read More Mill: On UtilitarianismIntroduction and ContextKant is considered to be one of the most important philosophers ever…EVER! Therefore, everything he says it true. The end. Well, not quite. Lets avoid appeals to authority and look at the arguments ourselves, shall we? As I mentioned in earlier posts the difference between the 3 main ethical theories (virtue, deontology, consequentialism) […]
Read More Kantian Ethics: A SummaryIntroduction and ContextSo far it looks like if we’re moral realists (i.e., we believe there are objective moral facts) we are in deep doo-doo. In Why Be Moral, Glaucon and Adeimantus compellingly argue that it’s better to appear moral than to actually be moral. The Euthyphro dilemma shows that appealing to God can’t, on its […]
Read More The Moral Problem: Michael SmithPlato: Introduction to Why Be Moral (aka Glaucon’s Challenge) The first question of philosophy is “how should I live?” Implicit in this question is a similar question: “what does living a good life entail?” Amongst other things, over the course of The Republic, Plato tries to answer this question. One of the central issues to […]
Read More Why Be Moral? Plato, The Republic Book IIIntroductionWelcome to one of my favorite topics: meta-ethics. Rather than describe what meta-ethics is, it might be easier understood by listing some of the questions it tries to answer:(a) What does it mean for something to be morally “good” or what is it that makes something “good” or “bad”?(b) What does it mean for something […]
Read More Intro to Meta-Ethics
Wrestling with Philosophy 