[Originally published at EveryJoe.com.] Let me brag a bit. In high school I was a pretty good at tennis. Now, many years later, I am an occasional weekend player who has somehow acquired the stamina (and the knees) of a middle-aged man. But I still have this recurring fantasy that I will play against the […]
Is Life Unfair? My Challenge to the Best Tennis Player in the World [The Good Life] Read More »
A fascinating brief item from the Library of Social Science‘s site. All German soldiers swore an oath to Adolf Hitler, vowing, “I shall at all times be prepared to give my life.” Similarly, those in the Schutzstaffel, or SS, vowed “absolute allegiance unto death.” Hitler drew the following conclusion, as he and the National Socialist
The ethics of sacrifice, National Socialist version Read More »
Some quotations and brief glosses on Augustine’s views on the use of persecution and torture in order to save souls. “No salvation outside the church.” (418 CE) “[M]any must first be recalled to their Lord by the stripes of temporal scourging, like evil slaves, and in some degree like good-for-nothing fugitives.” Augustine had defended toleration
St. Augustine on “Righteous Persecution” Read More »
Tomorrow morning I’ll be on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “The Current” radio program, which according to its website is “Canada’s Most Listened-to Radio Program.” Our topic is whether power corrupts. The journalistic context is the recent FIFA scandal, scandals in the Canadian Senate, and the ongoing scandals in politics, business, and so on around the
CBC discussion of corruption and power Read More »
The gall of some people. Apparently Malcolm Gladwell has gone after John Paulson for giving $400 million to Harvard University. It takes a special kind of immorality to feel comfortable doing any of the following: (a) bossily telling other people how to spend their own money, (b) telling them how to spend their philanthropic dollars,
On Gladwell’s chastising Paulson Read More »
An amusing line from Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), the great German essayist: “One should forgive one’s enemies, but not before they are hanged.” The line is rhetorically similar to Augustine’s “Give me chastity, oh Lord, but not yet,” from Book 8 of Confessions.
Heine on forgiving one’s enemies, but not too soon Read More »
Um cenário que é querido pelos eticistas, especialistas em políticas públicas e consultores em geral, pede que você se imagine em um bote salva-vidas. Nesses cenários estão inseridas suposições poderosas com implicações de vida ou morte, portanto, é interessante estuda-lo para compreendermos melhor do que se trata. Aqui vamos nós: Você estava sobrevoando o Oceano
A ética do bote salva-vidas, escassez e conflitos Read More »
Dois escândalos sexuais em departamentos de filosofia têm, de certa forma, escandalizado o mundo acadêmico nos últimos dias. Um deles, na Universidade de Miami na Flórida, levou à renúncia do professor Colin McGinn. O outro, na Universidade do Colorado, Boulder, resultou na substituição do chefe do departamento, Graeme Forbes. O caso do professor McGinn diz
Quando professores universitários podem manter relações sexuais com seus alunos? Read More »