February 2012
173 posts
3 tags
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
– James Madison, “Federalist No. 51”
anarchyfla asked: It made sense, but I'm inclined to disagree with you. My position is that I never consented to be governed, and I was never given a real choice in the matter. I don't feel that it is the job of the government to simply give people what they want, especially when it requires a huge infringement on someone else to do so. I don't consent to taxation either, but it isn't up to me....
5 tags
“But this must not be interpreted as if it meant his acceptance of a belief in...”
– Rudolf Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology”
3 tags
OMG--Look What I Found! →
It’s The Onion, philosophy style!
A new study confirms what philosophers have long suspected: ordinary folk disapprove of violently killing innocent bystanders.
At first I was like: “Huh, I didn’t think the results of thought experiments could be falsified…” And then I got it.
anarchyfla asked: I understand your argument, but it leaves me wondering where government gets its authority to grant rights and take it away. My primary reason for asking this is to try to understand where people that view rights and government differently from me are coming from and where they see the state as deriving its power. I don't know if this is a subject that you're particularly interested in,...
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so...”
– J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard Commencement Address (via small-as-a-world)
But I’m not sure I want to believe that I can’t live without failing…
thecasjerem asked: Philosophy and science. Can they depend on each other and still coexist?
dirtyfilthyliberal asked: What are you planning to do with your philosophy degree? I had the scary realization the other day that I'm two years from getting my phil B.A. and that I'm going to be confronted with having to answer that question myself, not that I'm not already being asked that by my father a billion times a day.
lonestarphilosophy asked: What are your thoughts about string theory, multiverses, and their implications for the human race?
Questions?
anarchyfla asked: What is your opinion of natural rights as described by John Locke? I'm not particularly versed in philosophy and have never studied it formally, and although it implies a creator, as an atheist it still makes sense to me. I just want to get the opinion of someone who has studied the subject who won't simply revert to arguing instead in favor of the social contract.
3 tags
“Our argument is not flatly circular, but something like it. It has the form,...”
– W. V. Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”
What does it mean???
2 tags
"War Against Theocracy" is much more accurate than...
Get it right, Religious Right!
6 tags
Philosopher's Dog: Mindfuck →
notoriousamarius:
philosophersdog:
Thomas Hobbes’ social contract theory is often presented as a group of people agreeing to forfeit some of their freedoms for the sake of bettering their life in one way or another (not getting killed, their land taken… etc.). But, in fact, Hobbes’ never claims that a person must give up some of…
I don’t get this, what’s the difference between giving up...
6 tags
Mindfuck
Thomas Hobbes’ social contract theory is often presented as a group of people agreeing to forfeit some of their freedoms for the sake of bettering their life in one way or another (not getting killed, their land taken… etc.). But, in fact, Hobbes’ never claims that a person must give up some of their freedom when they enter into a social contract. He does say that people must...
4 tags
Positive and Negative Freedom: The Two-Party...
In Philosophy of Freedom, there are two concepts of freedom: positive and negative. Negative freedom is merely a lack of restriction. A person is negatively free when they have nothing impeding their actions—no policing force. Positive freedom, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult to explain. Positive freedom uses force or restriction in order to promote a greater freedom. The idea is...
6 tags
Sir Isaiah Berlin's "Two Concepts of Liberty" →
The best most comprehensive essay written on the topic of freedom. Everyone should read this.
agrain asked: There's a Firefox extension called "Readability" that works wonders.
4 tags
“Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth.”
– Jean-Paul Sartre
3 tags
I still cry over David Lewis' death.
There is a reason "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" is...
It is definitely his most clearly written paper.
Going from “Speaking of Objects” to “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” is like going from lying on a bed of nails to a nice warm bubble bath.
My problem was that I used my intuitions to try to...
The look of sympathy on my professor’s face was as if I’d just completed a right of passage.
7 tags
“Once the theory of meaning is sharply separated from the theory of reference, it...”
– W. V. Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”
4 tags
“To choose this or that is to affirm at the same time the value of what we...”
– Jean-Paul Sartre
According to Sartre, by choosing to interpret the facts of the world the way we do, we affirm that which we consider good for all.
2 tags
I can see when I'm not wanted on the internet...
2 tags
4 tags
Dolphins are 'people' say scientists →
process-life:
Dolphins deserve to be treated as non-human “persons” whose rights to life and liberty should be respected, scientists meeting in Canada have been told.
I emphatically support this.
“So long and thanks for all the fish!”
1 tag
For Real?
Someone actually tried to turn in a plagiarized paper to the philosopher who wrote the freaking thing!
Hint for any [bad] philosophy students out there: the articles on the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy are written by the philosophers who are experts in that area. Check the bottom of the page to make sure that the expert who wrote that article isn’t your teacher before you copy/paste...
1 tag
Ugh. Never ever again will I forget my coffee at...
I can’t think without my blood-caffeine percentage being at least 50%.
This headache is going to kill me.
2 tags
fucklewalker-texas-ranger:
Reading Jean-Paul Sartre moves me nearly to tears.
What the fuck.
1.) “To choose this or that is to affirm at the same time the value of what we choose, because we can never choose evil. We always choose the good, and nothing can be good for us without being good for all.”
2.) “I hate victims who respect their executioners.”
3.) “People who live in society have...
3 tags
I'm so socially awkward:
My friend, Brandon: I'm flying to Maryland this week, so I'll just work on the paper on the plane.
Me: Oh, why are you going to Maryland?
Brandon: I'm interviewing for the PhD program over there.
Me: Oh. That's nice.
Brandon: Yeah, last time I went to one of these interviews in Missouri, I just drank the whole time.
Me: Oh.
Brandon: Yeah.
Me: That's weird. In the interview?
7 tags
3 tags
The ‘biblical view’ that’s younger than the Happy... →
In 1979, McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal.
Sometime after that, it was decided that the Bible teaches that human life begins at conception.
Ask any American evangelical, today, what the Bible says about abortion and they will insist that this is what it says. (Many don’t actually believe this, but they know it is the only answer that won’t get them in trouble.) They’ll be a little fuzzy on...
4 tags
2 tags
The best resource a philosopher can have →
If you are with a university, you can get nearly any philosophy paper you want or need free of charge.
Anonymous asked: Philosophy questionish... is there any basis for a right to know other people's religions? This may seem strange but today a very christian girl in my bio lab noticed my pentacle necklace and asked me what I believed. I didn't feel like it was the time or place and I didn't know anyone very well so I politely told her that I don't just talk about my religion with anyone... she...
Anonymous asked: Sorry, I was under the impression you were engaged to a girl (I mean I know you are a girl) sorry if you're not a lesbian (and I'm thinking about someone else) but if you are you should refer to her as your fiancee otherwise you're talking about a man!
8 tags
Jimmy John's Without the Sprouts??? →
For the fourth time since 2008, raw sprouts from the sandwich chain Jimmy John’s have been linked to a foodborne illness outbreak in the United States.
Twelve cases of E. coli poisoning in five states (Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Wisconsin) have been linked to raw clover sprouts eaten at Jimmy John’s restaurants, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and...
6 tags
My relatives keep posting this shit:
Seriously, this same shit once every couple months:
In 1787, after 20 years of labor, Edward Gibbon completed his The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In it he attributed the fall of the Empire as being 1. “The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.” 2. “Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public...