In 1957 — the decade during which the first generation of postmodern thinkers was arising — philosopher Brian Medlin claimed: “It is now pretty generally accepted by professional philosophers that ultimate ethical principles must be arbitrary.” For more on the context of Medlin’s point and its implications for postmodernism, see p. 87 of my Explaining Postmodernism: […]
Brian Medlin in *Explaining Postmodernism* Read More »
My “On Natural Morality and Religious Amoralism” is now republished at Britain’s Church and State site: “… religious belief is often autobiographical. That is, all religions have many messages and practices — some peaceful, some violent, and so on — and individuals choose among them to put together a personal religion that reflects the morality
“On Natural Morality and Religious Amoralism” [CHURCH and STATE] Read More »
Who is more likely to cheat — those who play individual sports or those who play team sports? A fascinating experiment by Professor Sharon K. Stoll and reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education compared athletes in individual sports such as golf or singles tennis with those playing teams sports such as basketball or doubles
When Altruism becomes Pathological [Good Life series] Read More »
In his “Letter to the Americans,” bin Laden issued a call for morality: “We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gamblings, and trading with interest.” Americans’ failure to cleanse themselves of these sins is one of the justifications bin Laden
The Wages of Sin, according to Osama bin Laden Read More »
Wisdom from a giant of the nineteenth-century — Frederick Douglass (circa 1818-1895): “Everybody has asked the question … ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the
Black History Month: Frederick Douglass Read More »
In The Wall Street Journal, she asks: “Who’s Afraid of Jordan Peterson?” “What could a grown-up, seemingly stable professor (former associate professor of psychology at Harvard, full professor for 20 years at the University of Toronto) stand for that would make a journalist want to annihilate him on live TV—or, failing that, to diminish him
Peggy Noonan on Jordan Peterson’s morality Read More »
In December 2016, Mark Michael Lewis interviewed me on a variety of topics, including the pronoun wars. At that point, Professor Jordan Peterson had recently taken a strong public stand against being required to use some newly proposed pronouns, and that refusal had generated controversy. Here is my four-minute opinion (from 36:06 to 40:21 in
Jordan Peterson and the Pronoun Wars Read More »
A new generation of sex robots is upon us, and the joking has begun. I don’t need one, says a wife, since my husband is already robotic in bed. Ha ha. Sure, a husband replies, but you should see my wife in inaction. (No thanks, I think to myself.) The next generation of sex robots promises
Sex with Robots? The Ethics [Good Life series] Read More »