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Monthly Archives November 2007

Regularly Schedule Programming

Just a quick note to say that I’ll be back to posting regularly “really soon now”–probably during the weekend. So if you haven’t been getting your fill of Kantian ethics and vague references to London, hang in there. Thanksgiving break was wonderful time spent with family (having a laptop in front of your face tends [...]

Posted 29 November 2007 Adam § § Comments (0)

Google Trends: Popular philosophy

Ok, so this is pretty fun. Google has a “trend” tracker that you can query about the popularity of search terms throughout the year. You get neat graphs in response. (You can actually separate terms with commas to get a graph tracking multiple terms.) “Philosophy” is kind of fun. Notice the spikes for finals weeks [...]

Posted 16 November 2007 Adam § , § Comments (2)

Are Ethicists more Ethical?

I wanted to get in on this discussion, started by a draft essay posted at Experimental Philosophy last week, but last week turned out to be pretty busy. The essay documents a survey of philosophers and ethicists as to the ethical behavior of ethicists. There is another sub-issue that one of the co-authors writes about [...]

Posted 12 November 2007 Adam § , , § Comments (5)

Global Warming

I don’t know enough about the science to have a definitive opinion on human-caused global warming (sorry, global climate change, though I don’t know why all climate change implies being worse), but there is an interesting argument that one doesn’t have to be totally convinced by the science in order to support anti-global warming policies [...]

Posted 07 November 2007 Adam § , § Comments (5)

Kant and the Bene Gesserit Litany

> I must not fear. Fear is the mindkiller. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will allow it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there [...]

Posted 04 November 2007 Adam § , § Comments (1)

Duty and the Law (GMOM)

It’s been a little while since I’ve written about Kant’s *Groundwork* here, but it’s high time to get back to it since we’re barely through the first 2/3 of the first section of the book. Say what you will about Kant, but don’t blame him for not rewarding deep reading. My subject here is Kant’s [...]

Posted 04 November 2007 Adam § , , § Comments (0)

Thoughts on Destiny (and Darth Vader)

After my meaning of life course last semester, I have more thoughts than usual about the place of “meaning” in modern philosophy. But what “meaning” is tends not to be too terribly clear. Is it one’s deepest plans, deepest desires, one’s purpose according to a higher being, one’s purpose according to oneself, one’s destiny, or [...]

Posted 01 November 2007 Adam § , , § Comments (6)