Moral Dilemmas...Can Ethics Help?: Moral Dilemmas...Can Ethics Help?
The parents and medical staff caring for a premature baby struggling for life are faced with the decision of whether or not to continue treatment. Philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose ideas have influenced modern medical eth..
Moral Issues and the Self
Philosopher Michael Sandel continues his discussion of morality and the self, exploring the ideas of both the encumbered and the unencumbered self. As an example of someone who acted with the sense of solidarity and mora..
Moral Pluralism
Philosopher Michael Sandel argues that the fact that we live in a morally pluralistic society shouldn't deter us from seeking to create a political system based on the common good--even if there is widespread disagreemen..
Natural Selection and Differential Reproduction
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks about differential reproduction, which he says is the key idea of natural selection. With differential reproduction, some copies of the original are a little less perfect than others. Tho..
Natural Selection and Distant Ancestors
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks about the conventional wisdom before Darwin that species were fixed eternally. With Darwin came the notion that species that may be very different now have a common ancestor from the very..
Nietzsche and the Death of God
Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus talks about Friedrich Nietzsche's views on God, then flashes back to the time of Plato, before moving forward again and exploring the question: what happens to a culture which is organized arou..
Observation Sentences
Philosopher W.V. Quine explains observation sentences, noting that they are also occasion sentences. By this he means they are sentences which may be true now, but false a little later. As an example, he offers the sente..
Ontological Relativity
Philosopher W.V. Quine talks about ontological relativity, which says that the objects a theory deals with or talks about--the objects that are values of its variables or referred to by its essential pronouns--can be cha..
Ontology
Philosopher W.V. Quine explains the concept of ontology, which is something he wrote about extensively. He states that in general terms it is the science of being, the science of existence. Professor Quine observes that ..
Perception
Philosopher Hilary Putnam talks about re-thinking his view of perception. He states that he's moving towards "direct realism"--the notion that we actually perceive real properties of things, rather than sensations concei..