Continuing on John Stuart Mill's On Liberty (1859). For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go here). We discuss "partial truths" and how free speech may allow us to complete them, whether truth will always eventually overcome persecution, whether we can judge some "experiments in living" as failures once and for all, education, "barbarians," how Mill compares to Nietzsche, and Continue Reading …
Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part One)
Discussing John Stuart Mill's On Liberty (1859). For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go here). If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people for engaging in them? How much shaming is too much? Mill's famous "harm principle" says that we should permit anything unless it harms other people. But what Continue Reading …
Ep. 183: Mill on Liberty (Citizen Edition)
Discussing John Stuart Mill's On Liberty (1859). For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go here). If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people for engaging in them? How much shaming is too much? Mill's famous "harm principle" says that we should permit anything unless it harms other people. But what Continue Reading …
Science, Technology and Society II: J.S. Mill on Scientific Method
This post in the second in a series on Science, Technology, and Society. The first post is here, and the following post is here. All posts in the series have previously appeared on the Partially Examined Life group page on Facebook. "We begin by making any supposition, even a false one, to see what consequences will follow from it; and by observing how these differ from the Continue Reading …
Episode 9: Utilitarian Ethics: What Should We Do?
Discussing Jeremy Bentham’s An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation chapters 1-5, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, and modern utilitarian Peter Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality.") Going full tilt on the Greatest Happiness principle, with talk of gladiators, consensual cannibalism, and illegal downloads. How many Pleetons were in your last Continue Reading …
Episode 9: Utilitarian Ethics: What Should We Do?
Discussing Jeremy Bentham’s An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation chapters 1-5, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, and modern utilitarian Peter Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality.") Going full tilt on the Greatest Happiness principle, with talk of gladiators, consensual cannibalism, and illegal downloads. How many Pleetons were in your last Continue Reading …