86
votes
Accepted
Is it rational for heterosexuals to be proud that they were born heterosexual?
I would say it is perfectly fine. However, the "pride" that the members of the LGBTQ+ community want to express is not "pride" in its usual meaning. They are not "proud", ...
- 716
51
votes
Does the no true Scotsman fallacy apply to anti Stalinist etc. communism?
Marx, socialism and communism
Neither Marx nor Engels provided a blueprint for the socialist state. There could in their view be no such thing as a communist state since under communism, with no ...
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37
votes
Is it ethical to convince someone to get vaccinated?
You approach the problem from the position that everyone knows and agrees on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. But people don't refuse it because they wish to declare that they are selfish and ...
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32
votes
Is it ethical to convince someone to get vaccinated?
When something has a label on it, it will influence how we think about it, even if the thing isn't what the label says. So I think it's important to define the terms in depth.
Suppose a pharmaceutical ...
- 584
26
votes
Accepted
The McDonald's Option
So, having spent some time as a union representative in a large assembly, I can tell you for sure that the activity in question is consensus decision-making. When a group of people build consensus, ...
- 35.6k
18
votes
Does the no true Scotsman fallacy apply to anti Stalinist etc. communism?
A criticized exception to the rule that falls short of the rule makes for valid negation of criticism
OK, that headline requires changing direction of the train of thought at least three times, so let ...
- 5,229
18
votes
Does the no true Scotsman fallacy apply to anti Stalinist etc. communism?
"No True Scotsman" is one of those categories of fallacies that is rather subjective. If Person A says that X is not Y because it lacks Z, and Person B says that this is a No True Scotsman fallacy, ...
- 1,069
15
votes
Is it true that a technological society has to weaken family ties and local communities if it is to function efficiently?
Kaczynski himself may or may not be a conservative, but "the breakdown of traditional values" is something conservatives keep fear-mongering about, and they keep asserting that this is ...
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14
votes
Is it rational for heterosexuals to be proud that they were born heterosexual?
Pride is an emotion. It is irrational to expect rationality from emotions.
- 1,372
13
votes
Is it ethical to convince someone to get vaccinated?
John Rawls discusses this subject, albeit briefly, in A Theory of Justice. The context is the issue of public goods, for example in light of the free-rider problem. The section is #42 (pg. 237 of the ...
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13
votes
Is it rational for heterosexuals to be proud that they were born heterosexual?
Being proud of your sexual orientation or gender only works when the opposite is expected. Pride started at a time where LGBT+ people were expected to feel shame. Starting as a kid from parents, ...
- 139
12
votes
Is it rational for heterosexuals to be proud that they were born heterosexual?
The simple answer, or rather response, to your question is that such words are being used simply as a slogan, a political statement.
There is utterly no connection to philosophy, or any philosophical ...
- 368
12
votes
The McDonald's Option
It's not really a fallacy, sounds more like a bias or at least something from the domain of psychology and behavioral studies. Disclaimer: Not a psychologist...
What also came to mind was "...
- 8,148
12
votes
What is opinion?
An opinion is simply another term for belief.
Some opinions may also be fact. E.g. my opinion that the Earth is not flat.
Some opinions are not fact. E.g. a flat-Earther's opinion that the Earth is ...
- 5,823
10
votes
Why try to explain the unexplainable?
Why try to explain the unexplainable?
First, most of the time, we don't know that the unexplainable is unexplainable. We just explain what we think is explainable (putting aside for a moment the many ...
- 9,880
9
votes
Is it true that a technological society has to weaken family ties and local communities if it is to function efficiently?
While this is hard to give an objective answer to, I'll give some thoughts.
As far as I can tell, Ted Kaczynski seems to believe that we like to act in our self-interest. Communities arise from mutual ...
- 1,265
9
votes
Is it true that a technological society has to weaken family ties and local communities if it is to function efficiently?
I cannot really make out a question in the body of OP's post, so I assume all of that is just meant as context of what this question (in the title) is about. I also am not familiar with the ramblings ...
- 3,710
9
votes
Accepted
What explains the observation that grocery store check-out lines are oscillatory?
If we make the slightly controversial (read: probably not entirely true) assumption that people arrive at cash registers independently of each other, with no statistical correlation or synchronization ...
- 2,344
8
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
8
votes
In a democratic society, should governments be allowed to pay for or fund artistic/cultural works and performances using taxpayers' money?
You ask:
in a democratic society, should governments be allowed to pay for or fund artistic/cultural works and performances using taxpayers' money?
And in response to "'should' according to ...
- 5,823
6
votes
Is it ethical to convince someone to get vaccinated?
Two points...
First, there is nothing immoral about trying to convince someone of some point. Political society in Liberal democratic nations depends of the ability of different people within the ...
- 24.2k
6
votes
Philosophers answering "what happens to a society that does not believe in free wıll?"
The only thing I'm well-familiar with in this connection is Kant's claim that we act "under the idea of freedom" no matter what. Unfortunately (or not?), this makes the belief in free will (...
- 22.6k
6
votes
Two ways of thinking about social reality (progressive/fluid vs conservative/structure)
One of the interpretations for this difference across the political spectrum is 'tolerance of ambiguity'. There's also interesting work on politics and attachment-style, see Attachment Style and ...
- 23.8k
6
votes
Is it rational for heterosexuals to be proud that they were born heterosexual?
A similar issue arose a few years ago when the president of Smith College used the phrase "all lives matter" in a public speech. Some students subsequently protested, arguing that the phrase ...
- 299
6
votes
How to save oneself from this particular angst?
I agree with you:
Now it is true that the civilization as a whole […], although a big
complex system, does not possess a centralized information processing
unit to direct it's own actions, in the ...
- 42.5k
5
votes
Accepted
What sorts of questions do philosophers of science think about?
You are asking several questions here. Firstly, what kind of questions is philosophy of science concerned with? Here are some of the most important:
How does scientific knowledge advance? Is there a ...
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5
votes
Arguments for/against tolerance against intolerance?
The "tolerance of intolerance paradox" is a highly misleading logical fallacy that conflates an attitude of acceptance of intolerant ideas with acceptance of harmful actions.
It's basically used as ...
- 51
5
votes
What would Marx say about liberal identity politics?
Marx’s Communist Manifesto mentions something called “Conservative or Bourgeois Socialism” and states:
“A part of the bourgeoisie is desirous of redressing social grievances in order to secure the ...
5
votes
What would Marx say about liberal identity politics?
For me it helps to frame the topic from the central objective of his philosophy, which one might put as: the liberation of humanity from the enchainment of exploitative modes of production.
If we ...
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