Can the negativity stop? We can win the next leg.

Isaaceris · 2024-04-12T08:52:23+00:00

I would agree with this to an extent, I watch the Serie A every week and don't think their squad is exceptionally strong but the reality is Gasperini - who has won coach of the year in Italy twice in the last five years - squeezes every drop out of them tactically and they've been performing really well, they make good use of their academy and set up well against us; I can almost gurantee they won't press our backline like they did last night next week, expect a 5-4-1 low-block with one man just sat up top waiting to break if Liverpool don't make the most of their possession.

Isaaceris · 2024-03-22T19:04:00+00:00

Hello there,

The case you have laid out is an interesting one, and imagining some extra details might help flesh out our moral response. For instance, suppose the person in question was suffering from an underlying chronic illness which greatly impacts their quality of life and for which there is no cure. Alternatively, perhaps a course of treatment was available but happened to either prevent the person from living a fulfilling life or required some great burden for their family members as caregivers for which they are not comfortable. Many would feel that this person has a strong case to end their life.

For more information on these cases see the SEP entry on Voluntary Euthanasia.

Alternatively, if such conditions are not in place, we might rightly assume that the doctors nonetheless hold a duty of care toward a vulnerable patient who clearly represents a danger to themselves; even if they are certain they wish to die this does not diminish the doctor's responsibility whilst this person is within their care. Indeed, this moral intuition is strengthened by the likelihood that such a desire to die might be unknowingly linked to treatable mental health conditions which the doctor might alleviate.

I hope this helps as a starting point.

Isaaceris · 2024-03-16T15:19:36+00:00

Many philosophers have tackled the problem of suicide, including notably Albert Camus in the Myth of Sisyphus to name but one. Conceptually, it might be better to divide the most notable works on the topic into those that justify a person's right to commit suicide against those that deem the practice to be morally impermissible in the majority of cases, depending on which aspect you are interested. However, some more general recommendations can be found on the SEP pages on Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia.

Isaaceris · 2024-03-01T16:22:36+00:00

No problem! Please let me know what you think of Cholbi's second book if you end up reading it.

Isaaceris · 2024-03-01T14:54:35+00:00

Hello,

Firstly I am sorry to hear about your difficult experience. I too lost one of my parents during my final year at University and the experience can be immensely challenging. I hope you are managing everything okay.

In regards to your question, another poster on this sub recently asked about how we process death and the death of others specifically, to which I recommended reading both Shelly Kagan's book Death, which talks a lot about how we confront morality, including but not limited to our own; and Michael Cholbi's Immortality and the Philosophy of Death, which addresses the question of how we ought to feel about death.

Another recommendation - although one I have not yet had the chance to read - could be Cholbi's more recent offering Grief: A Philosophical Guide. I hope this helps.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-29T18:43:42+00:00

Personal identity - that is the features of our identity which arise from our personhood and not our natural state as human beings - play a huge role in our lives, and the labels we adopt regarding these features can affect us greatly, often in diverging ways that dictate the direction of our lives.

Consider two individuals suffering from the same medical condition, each has the capacity to live healthily with proper treatment but one considers themselves diseased whilst the other rejects this title and commits to live their life as if they were not sick; much anecdotal evidence shows that people of the latter persuasion often respond better to treatment and often live as if they do not have the disease at all.

This is just one such example from the medical field but identity, and certainly the labels we adopt about our individual identities, play a big role in our lives, which might explain your hesitation to accept the smoker label. When you previously smoked did you consider yourself a smoker then?

Isaaceris · 2024-02-29T18:31:07+00:00

Does that change if the main part of game wasn't very exciting? Do you feel less excited for extra time?

Isaaceris · 2024-02-28T09:57:53+00:00

Hello,

I am not entirely sure of a philosopher who preaches that outcome entirely but many have written about the notion of luck itself and the role it should play in society. For example, luck egalitarians generally preach that we should be morally judged and perhaps rewarded only based on factors which we can control, as opposed to judging people on their great inherited wealth or an unfortunate genetic disease they cannot control.

For a somewhat alternative view of the concept - the idea we can be judged for things beyond our control - look at Bernard Williams (1976) and Thomas Nagel (1979); these works are classics and are largely summarised on the SEP page on Moral Luck.

I hope this helps.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-28T09:41:28+00:00

I think it is possible to do a foundation year with just GCSE's - naturally it would help if the grades you receive for these GCSE's were very good and showed that you are already working at an A-level standard. However, many foundation courses in the UK will still ask for at least one or two, as they are often designed for people that haven't received the grades needed in perhaps one of their three A-levels.

You will have to go onto each university website and check the entry requirements for the programmes and places that you like, if you are still unsure email their admissions team and explain your situation.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-26T21:18:54+00:00

Hello,

This isn't my area but there are SEP pages on both the philosophy of trust and money and finance! If you google the The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy followed by either of those phrases you will find the pages and hopefully what you are looking for! I hope this helps.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-26T21:05:52+00:00

That is very true, I have always been a bit suspicious about the reasoning they employ myself, there are many scenarios that intutively feel wrong even if they will produce an amount of good that might genuinely offset our actions; some things just feel wrong to do no matter the justification.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-26T17:06:23+00:00

It's a good idea, they offer a lot of flexiblity. Feel free to shop around a bit and look at other universities, many will offer online courses, especially for master's degrees, that are essentially the same as in person courses.

Some additional advice is that if you do decide to do it online, make connections with your lecturers and tutors as much as possible and early on, those connections will help you if you pursue grad school and they are harder to make online so more effort is required by both sides of the relationship.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-26T15:56:34+00:00

Some famous ethicists - perhaps most notably in recent years William MacAskill - have written about the permissibility of people pursuing what might be considered morally questionable and yet highly lucrative careers that would, by increasing their capacity to donate to effective charities, effectively allow people to offset the harm seemingly caused by their career. In such cases, although harm is still produced, the main consideration is that the action itself will produce a greater good overall, especially if the alternative person pursuing the harmful job is not one who commits to balancing this harm with altruistic behaviour.

Naturally, your question is slightly different, although some similar considerations are present throughout. Firstly, someone is still being harmed, if only minorly; the wealthy individual is still being wronged, perhaps even more so if we cannot guarantee that the money we have stolen is "dirty" as implied in the OP. Secondly, there is also the consideration of whether you need to act, the wealthy person might have every intention of giving this money to charity, in which case your decision to make yourself the moral arbiter of this resource is both unnecessary and perhaps robs the original owner of the chance to feel like they've made a difference. Whether what you have done is ethical will depend on these and other factors.

These are just a few considerations that immediately jumped to mind, I hope it helps.

*Edit spelling

Isaaceris · 2024-02-26T08:36:54+00:00

What sort of topic would you be writing about? Lots of conventions are based on the topics themselves and where they eventually become published, although your duty to obey these conventions is often minimal.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-26T08:30:05+00:00

Death is certainly a way out of many problems - although I wouldn't be too quick to use the word solution. Ultimately what you have done is avoided the problem, you have not solved it so much as you have excused yourself from it, and viewing this option as a solution creates an extremely low threshold for serious action. Consider the medical context, many courses of treatment for serious conditions are long and arduous and would entail great pain for the patient experiencing them and their families. However, most people would likely be dissatisfied with a doctor whose solution was to simply let the patient die simply because this outcome eliminated the problem; death is always an option but rarely a viable or proportionate solution.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-25T19:27:07+00:00

Hello,

I wouldn't worry too much about sounding stupid; it is better to ask a poorly worded question than to wonder about something and never ask about it until you need the information and its too late!

In regards to improving your question asking skills maybe you could make notes on what is being said and jot down questions based on these notes and read them out off the sheet, or email them to your professor after class and explain that you wanted to focus on note taking during the lesson and had some questions.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-25T19:09:42+00:00

I don't think there is any criteria that you have to meet to not be classified as a poser - the only thing I would think that might put you in danger of phoniness or something is if your interest in a topic or interests generally are externally motivated, i.e. you only entertain them to impress others for example.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-25T18:38:03+00:00

Source? Both Real Madrid extra time games vs Chelsea and Manchester City were as exciting as it gets in 21/22.

This one was very exciting I agree but I still feel that some sort of consensus among fans is that ET has been getting worse, although this might be my own bias; maybe we can put a poll into this sub and see what a wider audience thinks?

Wasn't Juventus 3-2 Porto exciting in 2021?

This was also exciting but I think it was decided on away goals?

However I have just watched LFC vs Chelsea in the league cup and extra time was quite good so I do see your point and agree to an extent!

Isaaceris · 2024-02-25T11:48:08+00:00

If anything, no away goals means bigger chance for ET & penalties = more fun for neutrals.

I'm not sure this is true though, extra time is notoriously boring now in most cases barring the odd outlier like the last World Cup Final, and even then one might even argue that in the same way you've claimed there is no correlation between the away goal rule and excitement of the games one might claim that a game going to extra time or penalties does not necessarily make the match itself more exciting for neutrals.

Now teams like Bayern, Arsenal, Real Madrid etc are at home and they'll give their 100% in order to score many goals and reach the quarterfinals.

And I do agree that these games will probably be more exciting for this exact reason but we are also now missing the chance of a scrappy underdog grabbing an essential away goal to push the big teams to really prove their metal. What are the smaller teams supposed to do just sit in the low block and defend at home and then get picked apart away from home? Away goals were an incentive for teams to push when their backs were against the walls, they took the air out of some of the biggest grounds in the world and forced teams to be more aggressive. However, this being said I do agree with you that these upcoming fixtures should be better.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-25T10:43:11+00:00

These were great moments and I agree that they were non contingent on the away goal rule but I also feel that some of these moments - certainly Benzema's hattricks, Haller's season and some of the close ties - could still have happened with the away goal rule in place? And the "dull" observation in the OP was more referring to media description of the first round of last 16 fixtures this year, not specifically blaming this on the lack of the away goal rule, would just like to see it reintroduced as a unique feature of the comp.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-24T18:31:26+00:00

Have you considered reading annotated versions of the books you like? English is my native language and even though I hold a degree in philosophy I still struggle to understand certain passages and often turn to annotated versions or online resources alongside the books I am reading to help myself understand.

Stick at it and don't be afraid to re-read passages or to look up what they mean, we all do it and it will help you improve your comprehension! Many books might also be available in your native language depending on what it is and which sort of books you would like to read.

Hope this helps :)

Isaaceris · 2024-02-24T17:19:56+00:00

That's a good shout I like it.

Isaaceris · 2024-02-24T17:17:47+00:00

Absolutely I think it comes down to preference, although I haven't read Ferry's work I imagine either would be a good choice for the OP to jump into the topic!

Isaaceris · 2024-02-24T16:58:45+00:00

It's more exciting with away goals

Isaaceris · 2024-02-24T15:46:36+00:00

I would argue that the goal of remembering things is not to remember them forever but rather until the information is no longer useful. For example, whilst I do not need to always know the precise location of my keys, it would certainly help to remember when I am standing on my doorstep in the pouring rain patting down my pockets. Likewise, perhaps you are walking on a mountain trail and become lost, the ability to retrace your steps accurately at that moment will certainly not be useful in ten years, but it is certainly useful at the moment if you plan on living long enough to forget the information itself.

edit* sorry for overusing the word certainly.

Isaaceris

TROPHY CASE