43
votes
Is mathematics politically and culturally neutral?
TL/DR:
Yes and no. Who writes papers and what they choose to research are products of culture, and in the US, our culture has a long history of racism. The actual theorems in the papers themselves are ...
- 3,319
40
votes
My CO2 emissions in the light of Russia burning thousands of tons of it a day
It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Suppose it is immoral to steal a wallet. Now, suppose that you learn that someone else has robbed a bank of a lot of money. Does it now become ...
- 16.5k
38
votes
Accepted
Why are legal and moral responsibilities said to be different?
In the most trivial sense, they are obviously distinct because morality does not disappear when I enter an area with no laws. Similarly, my personal morality does not change as I move between ...
- 475
33
votes
Was Robin Hood's point of view ethically sound?
Leaving aside the accuracy of Robin Hood, I'll address your points directly.
The first being that if we assume a free market exists...
There was no free market in England in Robin Hood's time. The ...
- 783
29
votes
Was Robin Hood's point of view ethically sound?
Disclaimer: I just skimmed a bunch of Wikipedia articles and old stories. I think I got the gist of the history about right, but can't claim this to be authoritative.
tl;dr- Robin Hood was never ...
- 1,995
29
votes
My CO2 emissions in the light of Russia burning thousands of tons of it a day
Important context:
The idea of you personally being acountable for your personal CO2 footprint (and that reducing it is relevant and important to combatting climate change) is not a natural idea as ...
- 434
27
votes
Accepted
Is mathematics politically and culturally neutral?
From its inception, mathematics was intended to be independent of cultural contexts in the real world. For example, you could use the same rules of algebra and the same numerals to count your family ...
- 9,107
24
votes
Was Robin Hood's point of view ethically sound?
Wanted to register a small framing challenge here with a few tiny notes (please do try to understand this as a good faith attempt to clarify the concern!)
It seems somewhat ill-fitting to import any ...
- 9,670
23
votes
Is it wrong to fly on holiday?
Your approval of the behaviour, has a global impact. It's about universalisability, the categorical imperative. See Is the Categorical Imperative Simply Bad Math? :)
I'd say there is s good comparison ...
- 22.9k
22
votes
Does a counterargument exist to the claim "Too much diversity is a problem/cannot be controlled"?
Sigh...
The notion of 'diversity' only makes sense from an ethno-nationalist perspective of mono-ethnicity. Sure, if everyone is just like the collective 'me' governmental problems decrease ...
- 21.8k
20
votes
What is to be understood by the phrase "Israel's right to exist"?
It's referring to the state, not the land or the people, so your example of a pear isn't really applicable. The preamble of the 1988 charter of Hamas (aka "the Islamic Resistance Movement") declares ...
- 301
17
votes
Why are legal and moral responsibilities said to be different?
They must be different! Otherwise, there would be no such thing as an unjust law.
I would not want to be there when the person who claims that legal obligation and moral obligation are one and the ...
- 4,157
17
votes
Is it logical to seek revenge?
You use the word 'logical' in the sense of rational. Thus, you are looking for rationales for the use of revenge. Philosophical analysis by Hobbes who characterized this world as violent in his ...
- 31.5k
16
votes
Accepted
Does the current “ruling ontology” deny any possibility of a social causation of mental illness?
Suppose (without loss of too much generality) that I am anxious. There are two conceptualizations I could consider. First, the one given by the "ruling ontology":
I suffer because I am ...
- 1,644
14
votes
Is it logical to seek revenge?
The possibility of revenge prevents attacks against you because they are risky. Always going for revenge makes life more dangerous for you because an attacker knows they must make it impossible for ...
- 5,745
13
votes
Was Robin Hood's point of view ethically sound?
While this is not a philosophy question, it raises a few points.
First, I don't personally know of any version of Robin Hood where he takes from riches who got rich because of their cunning and ...
- 7,264
13
votes
Is mathematics politically and culturally neutral?
A somewhat different perspective can be gained by taking a close look at the media of mathematical expression across history.
For example, the Bourbaki school of mathematics shifted the language and ...
- 1,006
13
votes
Does a counterargument exist to the claim "Too much diversity is a problem/cannot be controlled"?
The counter argument is that a more diverse government is more representative. If your prime objective is to streamline decision making, then replace the elected government with a dictatorship so that ...
- 24.8k
13
votes
Should freedom of speech accept speech against liberal values? Such as hate speech?
From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the
United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948:
Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; ...
- 36.9k
12
votes
My CO2 emissions in the light of Russia burning thousands of tons of it a day
You're comparing the CO2 emissions of you as an individual to those of an aggregate of people (Russia) without accounting for the size of the aggregate. If you spread the responsibility for Russia's ...
- 221
12
votes
Does a counterargument exist to the claim "Too much diversity is a problem/cannot be controlled"?
No.
When does it make sense to talk about arguments / counter arguments? In a discussion with clearly defined terms. "Diversity" is an ideological propaganda term, and basic logic does not ...
- 1,519
12
votes
Should freedom of speech accept speech against liberal values? Such as hate speech?
Freedom of speech is already abridged by laws on defamation, copyright infringement, national security, contempt of court etc. So the principle is already established that freedom of speech is not ...
- 2,944
11
votes
What is to be understood by the phrase "Israel's right to exist"?
The reason Israel demands that the Palestinians recognize Israel's so-called "right to exist" is that in so doing, they would officially relinquish any and all claims they have on the land they owned ...
- 9,107
9
votes
Accepted
What are reasonable basic obligations of citizens in democratic societies?
The question is how much well-informed citizens need to be to exercise their democratic rights. The answer depends on theories of democracy. The duty of citizens to be well-informed can be very ...
- 3,657
9
votes
Is it logical to seek revenge?
In the book Systems of Survival Jane Jacobs puts forward the thesis that humans have two fundamental systems of ethics. She calls them syndromes. Wiki Link
The first, and probably the older, she calls ...
- 1,015
9
votes
Do decolonialists have to attack science and modernity?
But even if colonialism is not palatable as it is a power structure of oppression, isn't there room for everybody to enjoy the benefits of lightbulbs (and vaccines, and a lot more)? Wouldn't rejecting ...
- 2,481
9
votes
Should freedom of speech accept speech against liberal values? Such as hate speech?
No. The question is analogous to freedom of movement. I am entitled to move as I like, but with a very large number of conventional constraints. I cannot use my freedom of movement to break into your ...
- 24.8k
9
votes
What would a be a pluralist's solution to quelling the abortion debate in the USA?
I very much like Philip Pettit’s discussion around pluralism in his Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government. For Pettit, there is a key truism in politics that everyone wants more freedom, ...
- 845
8
votes
Why is John Rawls taken more seriously than Ayn Rand?
You ask "What am I missing in Rawls's theory of justice?" after having said that "Rawls says the rich should be free to get as rich as they want to, as long as the poor get to pick up of a few crumbs ...
- 81
8
votes
Why are legal and moral responsibilities said to be different?
Legal and moral responsibilities are subtly different, even if we presume an entirely just legal system.
Legal responsibilities are about the scope of a person's authority. It is illegal for me to ...
- 1,966
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