Of all the Micah Tillmans in the world — and there are at least three — … I am this one.
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy), Religion on Jun 28th, 2010
I follow The Atheist Missionary on Twitter (http://twitter.com/atheistmission). He recently sent me an article by Dr. Scott F. Aikin, of Western Kentucky U/Vanderbilt U, entitled “The Problem of Worship” (pdf). It would appear that Dr. Aikin is a scholar of pragmatism, of which I heartily approve. I love, for instance, William James. But that’s another [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy) on Jun 16th, 2010
A couple days ago, some of the people I follow on Twitter got into a discussion about free will and responsibility. “Do you need the former to have the latter?” was one question they were asking. One of the problems with the debate is figuring out exactly what it would mean to have free will, [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy) on Jun 15th, 2010
(For a more “scholarly” treatment of the following topic, you can read a paper I threw together on it over Christmas Break, 2009: “Duty Derives from Telos: The Teleology behind Kant’s Categorical Imperative” [PDF]) ____ Random Introduction Yesterday, a few of the philosophers I follow on Twitter (my “Twitter Friends”? “Fritters”? ”Philosophy Tweeps”?) got into a [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy), Theory (Politics) on May 27th, 2010
Yesterday I argued that there are three possible grounds for freedom: doubt, universalism, and the lex talionis. There is, however, also a fourth (primarily popular amongst libertarians), namely, rights — especially property rights — especially the property rights one has over oneself. To have property is to have the right to decide how to use [...]
Posted in Culture, Ethics (Philosophy), Theory (Politics) on May 26th, 2010
Whiny Introduction As a libertarian type, I worry a lot about people using the government (and thus, ultimately, the police force) to tell other people what to do, say, write, buy, watch, etc. (or not do, not say, not write, not buy, not watch, etc.). In fact, the number of people who want to control [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy), Religion on May 24th, 2010
Introduction When you deal with Greek philosophy or myths — or Reformation theology — for long enough, you come across the issue of fate. Or is it destiny? I was having a little bit of a problem keeping the two straight, so I decided to get it figured out, once and for all. So here [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy), Religion, Theory (Politics) on May 21st, 2010
Aristotle and Plato and Aquinas and every other political philosopher in the West before the modern era said it was the job of government to make people good. The function of laws were to teach you to live the virtuous life. This is what I shall call the “Goodness at Gunpoint” (or “Sweetness at Swordpoint”) [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy) on May 17th, 2010
[ Background | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 ] Okay, one final post in this series. And this one will actually be about Prof. Wax’s book. ____ In Race, Wrongs, and Remedies, Amy L. Wax (who is Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at UPenn), [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy) on May 17th, 2010
[ Background | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 ] I. Recapitulation So, I’ve argued that justice isn’t always possible, that Prof. Wax and I agree on that point, that Prof. Wax is right to see a distinction between liability and remedy, that reality [...]
Posted in Ethics (Philosophy) on May 16th, 2010
[ Background | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 ] I. Recapitulation So far, in responding to Amy L. Wax’s Race, Wrongs, and Remedies, I’ve described how justice is not always possible, how Prof. Wax’s Parable of the Pedestrian agrees, how Prof. Wax uses [...]
