philopapers

Ji Young Lee and Andrea Bidoli discuss how artificial womb technology will shape the abortion rights discussion. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. In current practice, this involves the death of the foetus. Consequently, the debate on whether those experiencing an unwanted pregnancy have the right to abortion is usually dichotomized as a […]

Gerard Elfstrom asks what such creatures, if they exist, would be like and how much it matters morally. For much of Western history, we have been confident that human beings are persons but no other creatures have that status. These beliefs matter because personhood has often been deemed a necessary requirement for possessing moral value.

Frank Thermitus says prepare for the worst to achieve the best. Rather than imagining an ideal world, Stoics try to manage their emotions in order to deal with the world as it is. With this in mind, Stoicism would suggest that people of color should begin each day by reminding themselves, “I will face racism,

Fintan Neylan explains the realism Maurizio Ferraris introduces in his Introduction. At the opening of his 1907 lecture series ‘Pragmatism’, William James commented on the growing disparity between academic philosophy and a philosophy whose relevance ordinary people would feel in their lives. This latter philosophy would be one which truly mattered to us, James claimed,

J. Harvey Lomax on the love of eternity. Dedicated to Professor Hans-Georg Gadamer on his 100th birthday. “Docemur disputare, non vivere.”(“We are taught how to discuss and debate, but not how to live.”)Seneca Epistulae morales 95, 13 In the twentieth century “the plebeianism of the modern spirit, which is of English origin, erupted once again

H. James Birx looks at Darwin’s profound influence on Nietzsche’s dynamic philosophy. The scientist Charles Darwin had awakened the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche from his dogmatic slumber by the realization that, throughout organic history, no species is immutable (including our own). Pervasive change replaced eternal fixity. Going beyond Darwin, the German thinker offered an interpretation of

Peter Benson tells us how critiques of both Marx and capitalist society have evolved in France, with special reference to Jean Baudrillard and Bernard Stiegler. In 1989, when the Soviet Union imploded and its satellite states chaotically collapsed, there were those in the West who declared that communism had been not only defeated but refuted.

Adrian Brockless on the proper way to use the words ‘thought’ and ‘consciousness’. The concept of thought is one with which people make mischief. Is thought to do with what it is like to have experiences? How can we know for sure that others think as we do? In what ways are thought and consciousness

Paul Austin Murphy repudiates a blasé reduction of mind to matter by one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA. In Francis Crick’s 1994 book, The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul, he wrote the following oft-quoted passage: “‘You’, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of

Brett Wilson explores personal identity with John Locke and a dodgy 3D printer. Imagine that in the distant future, while working on a recalcitrant 3D printer, you accidentally cut off your hand. For a moment you consider printing a mechanical replacement, but you are nostalgic about biology, so you rush with your severed limb to