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The Principle of Autonomy One of my favorite aspects of Kant’s moral philosophy is the principle of autonomy; however, as with any prima facia appealing idea there are usually problems lurking below the shiny surface. I think I wrote about the principle of autonomy (PA) in an earlier post but for my own good […]
Read More Do You Trust People Who Watch Jersey Shore? Kant and the Principle of AutonomyA couple of weeks ago I was coming home from work on a Saturday night (I don’t work often lately because of school but they called me in) and decided it’d be easier to pick something up than to cook a meal at 3am. For late-night food I like this place called “Taco Cabana”. […]
Read More Jesus and BurritosPreamble I loves me my preambles… First a few autobiographical notes: today I wrote my first midterm in 11 years. I don’t recall being so stressed about exams in undergrad but for some reason I was really worried about this one; maybe it’s just a novelty effect and after a few more exams my […]
Read More I Like Money, Wanna Hang Out? Kantian Ethics: Acting From Reason vs For ReasonsWarning: This is some wacky stuff. Spinoza’s Spin on Modes Primer The chair I’m sitting on is a mode of God, the one and only substance. Yup it is. So I guess in a way I’m sitting on God. “King of the castle! King of the castle!”. But wait, I’m also a mode […]
Read More Sub-atomic Stir-Fry and the Indivisibility of Spinoza’s GodIs Morality Self-Evident? Preamble Up until now we have just taken it on faith that Kant is right in that the supreme principle of morality is the Categorical Imperative (CI) in its various incarnations (i.e., formulation of universalization, of natural law, and of humanity as an end). Now Kant begins his argument for why […]
Read More What Can We Know About Morality from the Concept of Freedom?Due to overwhelming reader demand here is part 3 of “Dueling with Dualism”… Quick Review I know most of you have memorized most of Spinoza’s philosophy but for the few of you who haven’t and would like to be brought up to speed, here’s what we’ve covered so far: The grand argument that Spinoza […]
Read More Dueling with Dualism Part 3: The Leibniz Challenge and The Nature of GodWelcome back all you crazy Spinoza fans! In the introduction entry I made on Spinoza I laid out the definitions of the key terms–substance, primary attribute, and mode–I will be using to discuss Spinoza’s arguments. Before I go any further, I’m just going to be really honest and say that sometimes with metaphysics I […]
Read More Everything is One! Dueling with Dualism Part 2Intro “I don’t do that because I have morals“. Whenever I hear that I want to reply, “Yeah? So do I; and my morality tells me that it is good to strangle people who say stupid things”. My evidence is purely anecdotal but it seems every time I here this it’s from a […]
Read More The Moral Law, God, and Helping Little Old Ladies Across the StreetHi everyone, once again thank you for visiting my humble blog. Knowing that a handful of people read this is very helpful in inspiring me to write. Before I continue and discuss Kant I’d like to share with you an experience I had. Obviously, I have a natural affinity to philosophy generally but sometimes I […]
Read More Kant Vs LibertariansIs The Fundamental Level of Reality Divided into Mind and Body? Or Are Mind and Body Two Aspects of an Even More Fundamental Reality? The answer to this question is the key distinction between Descartes and Spinoza. Lets unpack the two positions: In the Dualist view (Descartes) anything that exists is either an extended […]
Read More Dueling with Dualism Part 1
Wrestling with Philosophy 