Tag: philosophy

Standard Arguments for Why It’s OK to Eat Meat and Why They Are Much Weaker Than You Think

IntroductionAt some point, every semester in my critical thinking class, I issue a challenge to my students.  For homework, they have to come up with their best possible argument for why it’s OK to eat factory farmed meat.  Every class gives variations of the same handful of arguments and they are indeed the same arguments […]

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My Growing Disappointment with the New Atheist Movement: A Review of "The Unbelievers"

Tonight (Thursday Apr. 4) I went to a screening of “The Unbelievers” which was followed by a live Q&A with the stars, Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss.  The event was held in the UNLV event center (Cox Pavilion) and it was very well attended.  Almost all the seats were taken. I wasn’t particularly motivated to […]

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Gettier: The Challenge to the Traditional Conception of Knowledge

Introduction and ContextGettier’s “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” is considered to be one of–if not the most–important articles of 20th Century philosophy.  Pre-Gettier, the standard definition of knowledge (since at least Aristotle) was “justified true belief”.  Pretty much everyone we’ve studied so far held this account of knowledge to be correct (with the exception of Goldman who wrote post-Gettier […]

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Critical Thinking: Arguments from Ignorance, God, and GMOs

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_w5JqQLqqTc&source=uds IntroductionThe next argument scheme we will look at is what’s known as the argument from ignorance.  An argument from ignorance (or argumentum ad ignorantium if you want to be fancy) is one that asserts that something is (most likely) true because there is no good evidence showing that it is false.  It can also be […]

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Mill’s Utilitarianism Part 3: Proof of the Principle of Utilitarianism

Mill’s Utilitarianism, Chapter IV:  Of What Sort of Proof the Principle of Utility is Susceptible Note: For criticisms of Mill’s Proof see my later posts “Sidgwick’s Criticisms of Mill’s Proof” and “Moore’s Criticisms of Mill’s Proof” Favorite Quote: “…[Virtue] may be felt a good in itself, and desired as such with as great intensity as any other […]

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Mill’s Utilitarianism Part 1: John Stuart Mill’s Argument for Qualitative Hedonism

Updayt:Hey er’body…I’m baaack!  Before we get down to biniz and talk about Mill an’ stuff here’s a brief updayt.  First, my sincerest apologies to the throngs of my adoring fans that had to go the whole summer without reading a new post, but I needed a break.  Also, I was studying for the state and […]

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Parfit on Moral Disagreement: Part 2

Notes and Thoughts on Moral Disagreement as Discussed in Parfit’s “On What Matters” Ch. 34Parfit Vs Basic Argument from DisagreementSuppose you and your counterpart are in ideal epistemic conditions.  You are aware of and agree on all the non-normative facts yet your opinions differ on what the true moral belief is.  In a way, we […]

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