Official Website for Amitabha Palmer
Introduction The first question of philosophy is, How should I live my life? For the Ancient Greeks, the answer was to live a good life. A trivial answer to be sure until we ask further, What is a good life? Or to rephrase it, what makes a good life good? Answers varied from school to […]
Read More Why Do Something Rather than Nothing? A Stoic PuzzleIntroductionFor most of my pre-college education I was a very average student–and that’s being charitable. In my first year of college, I vowed I would learn how to get A’s. I bought (and read!) a bunch of books on the subject as well as attended any study skills workshops available on campus. With the right […]
Read More How to Get an A on any ExamThe American Dream IntroductionI’ve mentioned before that philosophers distinguish between lumpers and splitters. Splitters take a category of things, actions, concepts and show that there are important distinctions to be made within that category such that we should really see it as two (or more) distinct categories. For example, someone might argue that ‘motor vehicle’ […]
Read More Value and Gun RightsIntroduction It’s nearly impossible to understand contemporary ethics without understanding the word ‘normative’ as it’s used in philosophy. Since this post is mostly about a kind of argument in ethics, I’ll get the definition out of the way. Perhaps the easiest way to understand normative statements is to contrast them with descriptive statements. “She hit […]
Read More The Emperor of Fallacies: The Is/Ought ProblemI just finished working my ass off renovating an older house I bought earlier in the year. Here are the before, during, and after pictures. This post doesn’t have any philosophy except for that I wouldn’t have finished the project if I hadn’t been reading the Stoics in the evening… Part 1: The house had […]
Read More Reno Round 1: A ComedyIntroductionA few months ago I bought an older house. I knew it would need a bit of work before I could rent it out. As is the case with any old house, it’s turned into even more work than I’d originally thought. Although not part of the original plan, I’ve had to rip out the […]
Read More Grinding and Loving: Two Approaches to Installing PlumbingIntroduction The comments section of the internet is the battleground of the future; thus, in my critical thinking course I like to give my students advice on how to be great internet warriors. In any combat sport, pattern recognition facilitates a quick and effective response. And so, with internet battles, being able to recognize and […]
Read More Internet Warrior’s Guide to Surviving a Level 7 Tu Quoque AttackEDIT: After I wrote this post, Google tweeted a statement clarifying why Natural News had been delisted. It had nothing to do with the content, rather they were using redirect techniques prohibited Google’s webmaster guidelines. Regardless of why Google delisted, my arguments still apply but should be interpreted as a policy going forward.The Situation Here’s the dealy-yo. The […]
Read More Democracy and Free Speech in the Age of Ignorance: Google Delists Natural News from Search ResultsArticle II of the Constitution allows the POTUS to bypass Congress and issue orders that are binding on federal administrative agencies. Lately, we’re hearing about–and should continue to hear about–the issue of “executive overreach”. The general claim is that the executive branch’s exercise of power through executive order is used excessively. Currently, liberals and liberal-leaning media are […]
Read More Thinking Critically about Politics: Executive Orders and Executive OverreachIntroduction I always enjoy writing my annual fitness post. I’m frequently surprised by how much I learn about fitness each year even though I’ve basically been involved in it my whole life. Before we get started here are my past fitness posts for future reference: Injury Prevention without Giving Up Intensity or Gainz How to […]
Read More Annual Fitness Post: How to Be Aristotle in the Gym
Wrestling with Philosophy 