There’s always a little light-hearted ribbing around the office or among friends over March Madness betting pools. But basketball-related disputes are sometimes more enduring. Statisticians and researchers have been passionately divided for decades over the mere issue...
Philosophers sacralize moral obligation and maintain that moral considerations are always overriding of all others, but ordinary people [as well as philosophers in their ordinary lives] hold actions done from earnest desire in higher esteem than those done from duty....
[1] You are with a friend in a restaurant, and he tells you that you ought not (in the moral sense) order the linguine con vongole that you are considering. When you ask him why, he tells you that eating clams violates their interests. You reply that you don’t care...
https://youtu.be/MlPnezRPCt8 Transcript Stasis; change. Rest; motion. Solid; liquid. These are all contrasting metaphors where one side – stasis, rest, solid – refer to a constant, and the other – change, motion, liquid – refer to movement. Each needs the other. If...
John Xu and me with our vintage wood racquets For the last three years or so, my tennis partner (John Xu) and I have been playing with wood racquets: he with a vintage Jack Kramer; I with a vintage Chris Evert Autograph. Towards the end of 2022, John became aware that...
A few weeks ago, I cleaned out my office at Missouri State University, in Springfield, where I’ve been a professor since 1999. I retired this Fall, following my wife, Nancy, who in the Spring finished fifteen years of teaching high school. It’s been three years since...
Originally, these prolegomena were published in separate installments, over a period of months. I have since edited and consolidated them into a single statement that represents the most complete summary of my current philosophical views. [1] Initial...
The comedian Paul F. Tompkins once said that we live in a golden age of cowardice. What he meant was that the Internet allows for more people than ever before to anonymously throw brickbats at strangers. Along similar lines, I wonder if we’re about to enter an age of...
Like all parents of young children today, I’ve sat through more episodes of Paw Patrol (and similar children’s programming) than I’d like. But as a philosopher, it gives me an interesting insight into how we as a culture use stories as a way to gradually bring our...