Anger and Morality Anger is inseparable from morality: we are naturally angry at what is unjust, unfair, blameworthy, evil. Jesus was angry at the money lenders and pharisees. There is no point in denying it. Emotivism used to say that moral judgement is all about boo and hurrah, but it should have said that moral […]
1000 Essays I was just re-reading Simon Blackburn’s intelligent and sympathetic review of my book Philosophical Provocations: 55 Short Essays (2017) in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (2018). He praises the book highly, recommending it as a good text for a graduate class. The book contains essays written in the style of the essays published on […]
Meetings Larry David’s “My Dinner with Adolf” brings up an important point. Bill Maher met Donald Trump for dinner at the White House: was he wrong to do so? The meeting was justified by invoking the principle that it is a good idea to meet with people with whom you disagree. Surely, we should be […]
Consciousness, Language, and Mystery The human intellect is confronted by two great mysteries: the mystery of consciousness and the mystery of language.[1] I am not here concerned to argue for the mysterian position in either area, still less to try to remove the mystery; my aim is to compare the two mysteries. I am engaged […]
Is the Problem of Consciousness Hard? I will suggest that in one sense it is and in another sense it isn’t. We have heard it said that consciousness is very hard, but here I want to emphasize the positive—it isn’t really that hard.[1] The two senses may be described as “objective” and “subjective” (or “subject-relative”). […]
Gang Deportations So far, the deportations to El Salvador have scooped up only Latino men (so far as we know). No women gang members or affiliates thereof have been similarly deported, or non-Latino gang members. But what about criminal gangs of other ethnicities and nationalities? Does the current administration intend to deport female (suspected) criminals […]
Philosophy at the University We are depressingly familiar with the argument that philosophy should not be taught in universities because it has no economic payoff. No goods and services result from it. You can’t make an honest living from it. We shouldn’t use public resources to finance such a useless study. By all means pursue […]
