Philosophers’ Corner

When one hears the word “apology” in a philosophical context, one naturally thinks of Plato’s famous Socratic dialogue, “The Apology”. And then it strikes one that Socrates doesn’t sound all that apologetic. Historically, “apology” often meant “reasoned argument or writing in justification of something”. Nowadays it mostly means “a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure”. It’s in this latter sense we are interested in apologies, including apologies in the political sphere, whether sincere or self-serving statements pretending to be expressions of regret.

How can we know what a person is feeling by looking at their face, and in particular can we know if they are lying? There is clearly both a psychological side to this and an epistemological side. Our guest is famous for his work on the psychological side, with a positive result: we can know what a person is feeling, and whether they are lying; at least the information is often there in the face. But it’s not always so easy.

Is water-boarding torture? If it is, does that make it wrong? Always? Usually? What is torture, and why is it always, usually, or sometimes wrong? Almost every dictionary gives two definitions of torture: a narrow one… inflicting great pain. And a broad one… severe mental anxiety and suffering. Water-boarding clearly counts as torture by the second definition, perhaps the issue isn’t clear given the first definition. But sure if our topic is the ethics, or morality, of torture, we need the more inclusive definition – severe mental anxiety and suffering.

Satisfy your hunger for food and philosophy on April 25th at the new Marsh Theater location in…

Joe:  Hey Blow,  I hear that Philosophy Talk is giving out it’s Second Annual Dionysus…

Well,  it’s been awhile since we’ve updated our blog.  Since both John and Ken are…

Help Us Celebrate 200 Episodes of Philosophy Talk! Our 200th episode is coming up, and to mark…

One used to think of a family as one of the primary means of transmitting values from generation to generation. One might have thought, in fact, that that is one of the primary things that family is for. Of course, it has other functions — providing for its members daily material and psychological needs prime among them.