ScienceDaily: Why We May Feel Guilty
On one hand, the punitive feeling of guilt may keep you from repeating the same transgressive behavior in the future, which psychologists call "withdrawal motivation." Conversely, some researchers view the function of guilt in a societal context, in that; it keeps people's behavior in line with the moral standards of their community. This view emphasizes a more positive emotional experience and is associated with "approach motivation."
The Keys to Happiness, and Why We Don't Use Them | LiveScience
"If you are looking for something to complain about, you are absolutely certain to find it," Easterbrook told LiveScience. "It requires some effort to achieve a happy outlook on life, and most people don't make it. Most people take the path of least resistance. Far too many people today don't make the steps to make their life more fulfilling one."
Hoover Institution - Policy Review - End of Dreams, Return of History
The rulers of China and Russia do have a set of beliefs that guide them in both domestic and foreign policy. They believe autocracy is better for their nations than democracy. They believe it offers order and stability and the possibility of prosperity. They believe that for their large, fractious nations, a strong government is essential to prevent chaos and collapse. They believe democracy is not the answer and that they are serving the best interests of their peoples by holding and wielding power the way they do. This is not a novel or, from a historical perspective, even a disreputable idea. The European monarchies of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries were thoroughly convinced of the superiority of their form of government. They disdained democracy as the rule of the licentious and greedy mob.
In defense of dangerous ideas :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Other Views
By "dangerous ideas" I don't have in mind harmful technologies, like those behind weapons of mass destruction, or evil ideologies, like those of racist, fascist or other fanatical cults. I have in mind statements of fact or policy that are defended with evidence and argument by serious scientists and thinkers but which are felt to challenge the collective decency of an age. The ideas listed above, and the moral panic that each one of them has incited during the past quarter century, are examples. Writers who have raised ideas like these have been vilified, censored, fired, threatened and in some cases physically assaulted.
All In The Mind - 14July2007 - Nature? Nurture? What makes us human?
Are we free agents or genetically determined souls? These questions have fuelled a fierce fight - polarizing a battleground of social scientists, biologists, parents and politicians. World renowned science writer Matt Ridley is calling a truce, and arguing the case for Nature via Nurture. Genes aren't Gods, he argues, they're cogs. As agents of nurture, genes get switched on and off by our experiences. Join Natasha Mitchell with Matt and special guests to debate the implications. Part of the 2007 Alfred Deakin Innovation Lecture series.
Many people have a vague notion that all the original biblical texts are preserved in vaults somewhere, and translators work from those original texts. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. The earliest surviving versions of the gospels are handwritten copies dating from centuries after the original texts were written. Also, we don't just have a single version of each gospel; we have many versions, and even more fragments. The trouble is, none of the versions agree with each other. As Ehrman puts it, there are more points of disagreement between manuscripts than there are words in the Gospels. So which one is right? How can one tell what the original authors intended?
Valuing the Mona Lisa
Why would destroying the Mona Lisa, or some other famous painting be wrong? Certainly it would be wrong, but in what sense? Is some moral wrong being done to the painting? Can a painting be morally harmed? Probably you will agree that it is not the painting itself that is wronged but people who own or love the painting.
From Modern to Ancient
Utilitarianism and Deontology are modern philosophical theories. Both have roots going back far into the history of Western thought, but both were formalized into coherent ethical systems in the past few hundred years. The theory we'll begin to investigate in this unit is about 2000 years older than either Utilitarianism or Deontology.
The theory we will investigate in this unit was developed by by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Kant is considered to be one of the most influential Western philosophers.
Kant's ethical theory is generally called Deontology. This word is derived from the Greek word for Duty. So, Kant's moral theory is based on a study of one's duties.
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory with roots going back to Epicurus' hedonism. Utilitarianism also includes many of the fundamental assumptions of ethical egoism as well. You'll remember that the heart of Epicurus' hedonistic philosophy was that all people wanted to be happy. Egoism too assumes that the fundamental desire shared by everyone is to secure happiness. The theory of Utilitarianism takes this basic egoistic assumption and expands it to include a consideration of everyone's happiness. Where the egoist only has to consider what is in her own interests, the Utilitarian must consider everyone's interests. The bottom line rule of Utilitarianism is called the Principle of Utility. The moral thing is that which brings the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people.
The theory of Ethical Egoism asserts that the key to always doing the morally correct thing is simply to do the thing that best serves your own self-interest.
This may seem like an unsophisticated theory that is not worth much consideration. On the contrary, Ethical Egoism is a theory with a 2500-year history that is still very popular today. Some argue that in its simplicity, Ethical Egoism offers the best guide to the Good Life. Let's see if we agree with this assessment.
Can Religious Beliefs Ground Moral Arguments?
One popular solution to the problem of grounding objective ethical truths is Religion. In this unit we will explore the connection between religion and ethics and specifically we'll investigate the usefulness of using religion as a basis for justifying ethical judgments to others -- That is for arguing about ethics.
Kinds of Truth: Moral Judgments
Moral judgments are phrased in many different ways. People may make judgments about what is right or wrong, good or evil or about what is morally forbidden or what is a moral duty. Some people may be judged as moral heroes and others as moral villains. Most basically, a moral judgment is any truth claim about a matter of morality.
Which kind of truth a moral judgment referring to? Is morality a subjective matter? Is morality contextual in nature? Or in morality an objective matter?
This may be the most important question in ethics. As we’ve seen, the rules for analyzing and evaluating different kinds of truth are very different and so misclassifying a kind of truth can lead to significant problems. The following three sections each pose a thought experiment – a what if.
What would it be like if morality is a subjective matter? How would
things be different if morality is a contextual or if morality is
objective? There is no easy answer to this question but it is important to keep
in mind that the stakes here are very high. Morality means very different things
depending on which kind of truth it is.
Kinds of Truth: Subjective, Contextual, Objective
People have all sorts of beliefs. Some of these beliefs are true and some are false. What does it mean to say that a belief is true? This a difficult and complex question with an entire branch of philosophy called epistemology devoted to it.
Some beliefs are true as long as a person believes they are true -- we'll call this sort of truth subjective. Some beliefs are true under certain circumstances but not under other circumstances -- these are contextual truths. Some beliefs are true only if they accord with some external reality -- these are objective truths.
Ethical Dilemmas
A dilemma, by definition, is a situation with two possible solutions which both lead to negative consequences. The dilemmas we will look at fit this definition pretty well. These ethical dilemmas place you in a scenario and ask you to analyze the situation and come up with a solution. Of course, because these are dilemmas, there won't be any easy answers. Your solutions will necessarily involve serious ethical consequences.
Proof that Internet porn prevents rape. - By Steven E. Landsburg - Slate Magazine
The bottom line on these experiments is, "More Net access, less rape." A 10 percent increase in Net access yields about a 7.3 percent decrease in reported rapes. States that adopted the Internet quickly saw the biggest declines. And, according to Clemson professor Todd Kendall, the effects remain even after you control for all of the obvious confounding variables, such as alcohol consumption, police presence, poverty and unemployment rates, population density, and so forth.
Inferiro Design -- From New York Times Sunday Book Review
If mutation, rather than selection, really limited evolutionary change, this should be true for artificial no less than natural selection. Domestic breeding relies upon exactly the same pool of mutational variation as natural selection. Now, if you sought an experimental test of Behe’s theory, what would you do? You’d take a wild species, say a wolf that hunts caribou by long pursuit, and apply selection experimentally to see if you could breed, say, a dogged little wolf that chivies rabbits underground: let’s call it a Jack Russell terrier. Or how about an adorable, fluffy pet wolf called, for the sake of argument, a Pekingese? Or a heavyset, thick-coated wolf, strong enough to carry a cask of brandy, that thrives in Alpine passes and might be named after one of them, the St. Bernard? Behe has to predict that you’d wait till hell freezes over, but the necessary mutations would not be forthcoming. Your wolves would stubbornly remain unchanged. Dogs are a mathematical impossibility.
Prayer: A Neurological Inquiry (Skeptical Inquirer March/April 2007)
Though thoughts and prayers are neither transmissible nor readable by any natural means, could they be known to a supernatural being? Evidence for or against this can be obtained by determining whether prayers are followed by what was solicited by them. Only proper scientific studies, however, can provide reliable evidence by excluding chance occurrences, and biases from the results. To this end, a number of such studies have measured the effects of intercessory prayer (praying for others) on health-care outcomes in patients with various illnesses. A thorough review of the medical literature in 2000 concluded that the data were inconclusive (Roberts, et al. 2000). Since then, at least five studies have been published, the most recent in April 2006 (Benson, et al. 2006). All found no beneficial effect of intercessory prayer.
More Happiness Please -- From Philosophy Now
Do reflective people live better lives? To the Greeks, the answer was obvious. If the unexamined life is not worth living, as Socrates said, the examined life goes much better. We need to think deeply before aiming and acting, if we are to have the best chance of succeeding. Think, aim, succeed. It sounds good; but do things really work that way?
Two recent books on the psychology of happiness call into question the notion that success in life depends on thinking and aiming. Stumbling on Happiness, by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, suggests that we don't steer our way toward better lives, but mostly just happen upon them. In The Happiness Hypothesis, University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt compares a person to a combination of horse and rider. Thinking (the rider) is not entirely in control.
Men and Women Really Do Think Differently | LiveScience
"These findings suggest that human evolution has created two different types of brains designed for equally intelligent behavior," said Haier, adding that, "by pinpointing these gender-based intelligence areas, the study has the potential to aid research on dementia and other cognitive-impairment diseases in the brain."
