Philosophers’ Corner

  • Disorders of the Mind – The Philosophy of Psychiatry

    There’s something odd about how psychiatry defines mental disorders—namely, by their symptoms. It’s to be expected, on some level. After all, how else could doctors diagnose psychiatric disorders, if not, in part, by their symptoms? The problem, though, is that in medicine, a cluster of symptoms isn’t usually what defines the disorder. Illnesses are identified by the underlying condition that causes the symptoms. And for good reason.

  • Why Philosophize?

    Recently, at a conference in Las Vegas, I was looking out my 29th floor window…

  • The More Good the Better?

    Suppose we know what all the goods are.  It doesn’t matter whether we are hedonists…

  • Camus and Absurdity

    What would be the point of living if you thought that life was absurd, that it could never have meaning? This is precisely the question that Camus asks in his famous work, The Myth of Sisyphus. He says, “There is only one really serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” He was haunted by this question of whether suicide could be the only rational response to the absurdity of life.

  • Regulating Bodies

      Our topic this week is Regulating Bodies.   My first gut instinct is to say…

  • Food Justice

    An astounding one in eight people on the planet are undernourished, over three million children…

  • Could Race be in Your Genes?

    Most philosophical work on race concentrates on two questions. The first is the question of…

  • Is Anarchy Possible?

    Before we can say whether an anarchist future is possible, we should start by saying…

  • Categorizing Humans

    Having just listened to the recent Philosophy Talk show with David Livingstone Smith, I find…

  • Why Be Moral?

    Why Be Moral – what kind of question is that? Morality is a good thing. Immorality is a bad thing. A person should always do good things and never do bad things. Doesn’t everybody agree? Well, judging by people’s behavior, not necessarily. But we also have to be careful not confuse ‘ought’ and ‘is’. People do behave immorally. But they shouldn’t. Everybody knows that – at least in their heart of hearts.