EGGHEAD CHOICE – Crack open for a hard boiled think

Here is a really meaty read in moral philosophy. It asks what are virtue and vice, and how do they relate to other moral properties such as goodness and rightness? Thomas Hurka, Professor of Philosophy at Toronto, (http://thomashurka.com/) defends a distinctive ‘perfectionist’ (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/perfectionism-moral/) view according to which the virtues are higher-level intrinsic goods, ones that involve morally […]

We tend to divide people pretty crudely into good and bad in our moral estimation. How much, though, do background factors play in moral behaviour? Genetics, parenting, economic conditions, quality of schooling, peer group association, and a whole host of other factors have influence. The individual has had no choice or control over any of these.

The news media in all its formats is saturated with reports of conflict and violence from around the world. A great deal of this violence is in the name of religion. Whole religious traditions as well as factions and sects within those traditions seek to assert their dominance over one another. Former Roman Catholic nun

100,000 years ago, at least six species of humanoid inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Homo Sapiens. How did our species survive and prosper up to the position we hold today? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations, and

Nothing is more natural than to believe we have conscious control over our own choices. Indeed most of social behaviour including the criminal justice system is predicated on that conviction. What, though, if that presumption is simply not true? Professor Dick Swabb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Swaab) argues that everything we think, do, and refrain from doing is determined by our

In 1980 I read ‘The Problem of Pain‘ (1940) by C.S. Lewis. It is essentially a defence of Christian doctrine – and the assertion of a loving God – in the face of ubiquitous suffering. It left many unresolved questions in my mind about the nature and existence of pain. Why, for example does pain have

If  inequality doesn’t bother you a bit – turn away. If you believe it’s an obscenity that the rich can stash away £13 trillion in offshore investment accounts in order to avoid tax (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-22/news/32788549_1_tax-havens-tax-justice-network-investment-bank) whilst the poor are ground into the dust, made to work harder every day and have their income reduced – this