On Moral Conversions
landreth | February 6, 2010
I’ve never witnessed a moral conversion, as far as I’m aware. I’ve witnessed some religious conversions, but I don’t recall anyone ever becoming a better person for it. On occasion, I’ve seen people change their life around for apparently no particular reason at all.
What would a moral conversion look like? I suppose it would look [...]
The Devil in Haiti
sparrow | January 19, 2010
…
Recently, Pat Robertson had this to say about the earthquake in Haiti:
“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil…. [...]
Ontological Engineering
landreth | January 18, 2010
I’m convinced that formal ontology should be part of the philosopher’s standard toolkit. A few months ago, I flew out to Buffalo to take an intro course on ontology, taught by Barry Smith. Smith is at the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics at Buffalo. The course video is available for free here, and I would [...]
Toolkits for Philosophers
landreth | January 8, 2010
On the show Survivor Man, Les Stroud shows you how to build shelters with a multi-tool and whatever spare junk he’s discovered in the forest. Compare building a shelter with a multi-tool to joining a team of construction workers bent on building a house. Les might have something useful constructed quicker, but in the long [...]
Ancient Democracy
sparrow | December 22, 2009
It is commonly claimed that the story of democracy begins in ancient Athens, but this is pretty clearly false. Generalizing from technically simpler cultures still existing or having been recorded before their destruction by Europeans, democracy in various direct forms was probably pretty widespread in early human history (however, the interesting thing about such [...]
John Brown’s Body
sparrow | December 14, 2009
“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” – in a note passed on the way to his hanging
John Brown was born on May 9, 1800. At the age of 37, he proclaimed his dedication to the abolition of slavery, [...]
The Philosopher Who Does Not Explain
landreth | November 21, 2009
What is it about philosophy that raises the need to repeatedly explain the use of technical vocabulary?
The standard answer is that the job of philosophy is to clarify language. So, of course philosophers should always explain what their key words mean. I don’t believe that the job of philosophy is just to clarify language, so [...]
Health Care Reform and Two Freedoms
sparrow | November 17, 2009
The health care reform bill recently passed the House of Representatives, and it’s a piece of garbage. It does next to nothing to stem the rising costs of health care imposed by the private health insurance system. Even worse, it imposes penalties for not having health insurance; this is the Massachusetts model that [...]
The Incomplete Philosopher
landreth | November 4, 2009
Up into my early 20’s, I thought that philosophy was about ways of making important life decisions. I’d formed this impression from reading a bit of Eastern philosophy and Existentialism as a kid. I remember, the people I read back then weren’t just talking about concepts. They were trying to figure out what to do, [...]
An Example of Political Innovations: Participatory Budgeting
sparrow | November 3, 2009
I’ve been promising discussions on genuine and innovative democratic institutions since the beginning of this blog. I don’t want this blog to be just a litany of the world’s alterable problems, and then say, “We’ve got to start thinking of solutions.” Too many people do that. Here there are solutions. They [...]
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