Tag: Ethics
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Why Everyone is Sad yet Nobody Angry
Have you noticed that, by and large, few people get angry today? That few stand up for themselves and lash out? Get irritated? Yes. Ornery? Sure. Persnickety? No doubt. But blood boiling? No. Have you also noticed how most people get–and are–really sad? They have the blues, they’re in a foul mood, they’re down in the…
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A review of Chapter One of Sam Harris, Waking Up: Preliminary questions
I recently read Chapter One of Sam Harris’s forthcoming book, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion and found myself thinking, ‘This may not end up being an excellent book, but for all that it is an important and prescient one.’ (You can read Chapter One here on his website.) Harris’s principal question, which goes unstated…
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The good life and sustaining life: Early reflections on my fall course at Kaos Pilots
With special reference to the neighborhood dugnad * The subject of my fall course at Kaos Pilots is the connection between the good life and sustaining (or bare) life. Logically and chronologically, the question of the good life must come before that of sustaining life. It is not the case, I shall be arguing, that human beings first…
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Our modern moral metaphysic: My basic set of questions
In the past weeks, I have been investigating the main assumptions that underlie our modern moral metaphysic. So far, I have examined arguments 4 and 3 (in that order). 1.) Because the world is lost and fallen, it needs to be changed or ultimately saved. 2.) Because the world is broken or out-of-order, it needs…
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Humans as inquisitive creatures
A few days ago, I wrote about the metaphysical-ethical picture, which claims that human beings are weak. I believe this picture is widely held today. I believe the picture is untrue. Below, I sketch a more accurate picture of human beings as inquisitive creatures. * Metaphysical-Ethical Picture 2: Human Beings are Inquisitive Creatures 1.) Human beings…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 