Discussing the notes Ludwig Wittgenstein made at the end of his life in 1951 that were published as On Certainty in 1969, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. These were in direct response to the essays by G.E. Moore that we discussed in episodes 307 and 308, so we talk about the status of so-called "Moorean propositions" like "physical objects exist," "the world is more Continue Reading …
Ep. 308: Moore’s Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one, we quickly complete our treatment of G.E. Moore’s "Proof of the External World" (1939) and move on to consider "Certainty" (1941). In the latter paper, Moore considers various "obvious" statements about his current situation (in my case now: I am writing this, I am sitting down, I have fingers, I am in my house on earth, etc.). These are all Continue Reading …
Ep. 308: Moore’s Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part One for Supporters)
On G.E. Moore’s "Proof of the External World" (1939) and "Certainty" (1941), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Similar to the essay we covered in our last episode, Moore is defending common sense realism against idealists who claim that the external world is not mind-independent but is instead made up of ideas, and also skeptics who claim that we can't know (or know with Continue Reading …
Ep. 307: G.E. Moore Defends Common Sense (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on "A Defense of Common Sense" (1925), now down to Mark, Wes, and Dylan. We get into the nitty gritty of Moore's argument: Against idealism, Moore argues that physical facts are in now way dependent on mental facts; for instance, the existence and position of the moon don't depend on anyone's beliefs about the moon. Reality is mind Continue Reading …
Ep. 307: G.E. Moore Defends Common Sense (Part One for Supporters)
On "A Defense of Common Sense" (1925), featuring Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan. Various philosophers will tell you that the only thing you experience is your own ideas, and hence the world outside of your mind is something wholly unknowable, or if it is knowable, it must be because those supposedly physical objects are actually somehow ideas as well. Moore defends our Continue Reading …
Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part Three for Supporters)
Concluding on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2021) Supreme Court decision. We talk more about the rationale for the decision and in particular the dissent by Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan. How do the arguments made play into philosophers' fears about the tyranny of the majority in democracies? Is democracy the best and only way to protect our rights, or can Continue Reading …
Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Ronald Dworkin's "Unenumerated Rights: Whether and How Roe Should be Overruled" (1992) and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2021) decision featuring guest Robin Linsenmayer. Dworkin thinks that the distinction between enumerated and unenumerated rights really doesn't make sense. All legal language is vague and requires Continue Reading …
Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part One for Supporters)
Does the U.S. Constitution guarantee the right to an abortion? Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth are joined by lawyer/sister Robin Linsenmayer to discuss Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2021) and Ronald Dworkin's "Unenumerated Rights: Whether and How Roe Should be Overruled" (1992). We previously considered Dworkin's take on what judges do when law is ambiguous. Continue Reading …
Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” (Part Three for Supporters)
To conclude our discussion of Blood Meridian, we talk about the roles of maturation and regression in the novel. Plus, more on Judge Holden's philosophy and how our view of this should be affected by the fact that Holden is a hypocritical child molester, the (small) role of women in the novel, the character of the idiot, "white man's burden," and more. Do you think we Continue Reading …
Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on McCarthy's 1985 novel, we discuss whether the plentiful, explicit violence in the book is actually gratuitous or whether it's central for presenting the book's philosophy. What makes the book supposedly unfilmable? We then focus on the details of Judge Holden's philosophy. He posits that war is the purpose (the telos) of man. Man is essentially a Continue Reading …
Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” (Part One for Supporters)
On McCarthy's 1985 anti-Western novel, featuring Wes, Seth, and Dylan. How does violence play a role in the way the world works? The novel tells a historically based story of the 19th century Glanton gang who were hired as scalp hunters by the Mexican government but then went on a rogue massacre. It's told from the point of view of "The Kid," a 15-year-old member of the gang Continue Reading …
Ep. 304: Dworkin v. Hart on Legal Judgment (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Roland Dworkin's "The Model of Rules" (1967) and Scott J. Shapiro's "The 'Hart-Dworkin' Debate: A Short Guide for the Perplexed" (2007), plus some of Dworkin's "Hard Cases" (1977). We go through some responses by Hartians to Dworkin's initial attack, revisiting the issue of whether judges can employ moral considerations when making decisions, or Continue Reading …
Ep. 304: Dworkin v. Hart on Legal Judgment (Part One for Supporters)
On Ronald Dworkin's "The Model of Rules" (1967) and Scott J. Shapiro's "The 'Hart-Dworkin' Debate: A Short Guide for the Perplexed" (2007). How do judges make decisions in hard cases? When the law "runs out" and doesn't definitively decide, e.g., whether we have a general "right of privacy," do judges then just draw on their personal moral judgment in deciding cases? And if Continue Reading …
Ep. 303: H.L.A. Hart on the Foundations of Law (Part Three for Supporters)
On The Concept of Law (1961), ch. 6, "Foundations of a Legal System." This chapter goes into detail about Hart's "rule of recognition," which is what is supposed to foundationally make something legitimately a law in a given society. How can we identify something as a law? In Britain, Hart says it's when the Queen in Parliament declares something to be a law (note that I say Continue Reading …
Ep. 303: H.L.A. Hart on the Foundations of Law (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" (1958) and The Concept of Law (1961), ch. 5 and 6. If law is not based on morality, then why obey the law? Hart claims that it's just a fact that most of us feel most of the time that we should obey the law. If this isn't the case, then Hart says there is no law in that society at all, whatever Continue Reading …
Ep. 303: H.L.A. Hart on the Foundations of Law (Part One for Supporters)
On "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" (1958) and The Concept of Law (1961), ch. 5 and 6. What's the relationship between law and morality? If law isn't founded on morality, what is it founded on? Hart was a leading figure in the philosophy of law, and wrote in the tradition of legal positivism that goes back to the British Utilitarians John Austin and before Continue Reading …
Ep. 302: Erasmus Praises Foolishness (Part Three for Supporters)
Mark, Wes, and eventually Dylan recap The Praise of Folly and get personal. At the end of the book, Erasmus seems to reverse himself and praises the asceticism (preference of the spiritual over the bodily) that he's been otherwise making fun of. After all, he is a Christian, so his Nietzschean critique of pretention and stolidity can't be entirely thoroughgoing. We also look Continue Reading …
Ep. 302: Erasmus Praises Foolishness (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on The Praise of Folly (1509) with guest Nathan Gilmour. Can foolishness actually make us more prudent, which sounds like its opposite? Well, having the wisdom to avoid all trouble keeps us from getting experience that would be helpful in acting more wisely in the long run. Erasmus (speaking with the voice of Folly) claims that foolishness in some Continue Reading …
Ep. 302: Erasmus Praises Foolishness (Part One for Supporters)
On Desiderius Erasmus' The Praise of Folly (1509), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Nathan Gilmour from the Christian Humanist podcast. Does foolishness enhance life? The Dutch Renaissance Catholic theologian known for his disputes with Martin Luther criticized the church from the inside, using gentle satire that targeted everyone, including intellectuals like himself. The Continue Reading …
Ep. 301: Is Abortion Morally Permissible? (Part Three for Supporters)
Jenny Hansen joins us for our final part of this discussion, covering "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion" by Mary Anne Warren (1973) and returning in parts to "A Defense of Abortion" (1971) by Judith Jarvis Thomson to allow Jenny to weigh in on the points we made in parts one and two. She also talks a bit about the Planned Parenthood v. Casey 1992 case that changed the Continue Reading …