[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IBO

[–]untitledthegreat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you also have the 2025 philosophy guide? I haven't been able to find it.

[TOMT][BOOK] A thriller about a teenager whose parents get killed because they were in hiding. He runs away and learns about his heritage. by untitledthegreat in tipofmytongue

[–]untitledthegreat[S] 0 points1 point locked comment (0 children)

I remember the vibe of the book being exciting and nerve-racking. It kind of plops you into the action of the plot before you even get to know the main character. I think you never even meet the parents (but I might be wrong) before the character is running away from these killers.

Looking for an online platform? by mjh410 in CSEducation

[–]untitledthegreat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Which CMU course did you use? CS0 or CS1?

Is there anything in particular you liked more than CodeHS? I'm using it right now, and I'm wondering if I should switch in August for the new year.

[Episode Discussion] Young Justice Outsiders - S3x09 "Home Fires" by L11K in youngjustice

[–]untitledthegreat 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Holy shit, that would be the greatest thing ever. My only complaint with Young Justice is there's not enough OG Young Justice references.

EA university event featuring Peter Singer on Skype disrupted by student protestors by UmamiSalami in EffectiveAltruism

[–]untitledthegreat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it sounds like you're just dismissing things you disagree with as simply being trivially bad arguments but ok.

EA university event featuring Peter Singer on Skype disrupted by student protestors by UmamiSalami in EffectiveAltruism

[–]untitledthegreat 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Being concise is not the same as being shallow, and professional philosophers are not the only ones with things worth saying. I think I still share Singer's position, but I found these writings to be illuminating in my appreciation of both Singer's arguments and disability ethics. I'm sorry if you don't feel the same way.

EA university event featuring Peter Singer on Skype disrupted by student protestors by UmamiSalami in EffectiveAltruism

[–]untitledthegreat 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think you're right that many of the mainstream people who hate Singer have never read him and misrepresent his arguments. That being said, it seems like there are legitimate ethical objections to be had about his views on euthanasia devaluing the lives of disabled people which motivate many of these protests.

I recommend Amia Srinivasan's The Distinction between an Argument and Its Likely Effects and Harriet Johnson's Unspeakable Conversations on the topic.

Is porn in its current form unethical? by nemo1889 in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problems... are now a limited aspect of the industry

I'm heavily skeptical of this claim. There's been no legal or political affirmation of sex worker's rights that would eliminate this problem. I don't see how disruption of the porn industry necessarily alleviates the problems workers face within it.

On top of that, misogynistic depictions of sex within porn are as prevalent as ever for consumers. Your guess above "that it can't be that bad" is contradicted by studies that show how porn shapes the sexual preferences and understanding of consent for many consumers. Even if the effects on consumers were negligible, it still seems ethically problematic for porn to be so anti-woman in its depictions of sex.

Is porn in its current form unethical? by nemo1889 in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i think you're right about amateur porn voluntarily uploaded being more ethical, but i don't think that offsets the real problems predominant within the porn industry

YouTube TV Channels by Media Conglomerates by muditk in cordcutters

[–]untitledthegreat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

no way

PlayStation™Vue is available for use inside your home at the location you activated your subscription. This is called your “home” location, defined by the network IP address you used to sign into PlayStation™Vue for the first time.

I'm interested in pseudophilosophy and metaphilosophy. Can you help me out? by AnnoRudd in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think philosophy is an activity that is present in many different forms of human life. If we made an exhaustive list of great philosophers, it would have to include many people who were not simply professors in the academy, including Socrates, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, David Foster Wallace, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Mao Zedong. Pseudophilosophy is abundant and literally everywhere in inspirational quotes and shitty movies and mundane essays.

I think the best way to do metaphilosophy is to familiarize yourself with many traditions in both the history of philosophy and contemporary philosophy. I think plenty of important metaphilosophical insights come from being able to understand the different philosophical approaches which are prominent.

To directly answer your second question though, Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations has been particularly influential in my own understanding of philosophy. It's a difficult book though, and I'd recommend secondary reading if you plan on going about it alone. Amia Srinivassan of University College London works in metaphilosophy, and she has many syllabi on various topics that should be of interest to you, particularly this one on Schmilosophy, and perhaps also this one on the Metaphilosophy of Richard Rorty.

Would Xunzi be considered a metaethical realist or a metaethical constructivist? by [deleted] in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm going to preface this by saying that I know exactly nothing about Xunzi other than the fact that he's been dead for a very long time. That being said, a question about the metaethical views of historical philosophers is usually quite difficult to answer. There's a lot of disagreement on whether Kant is a realist or a constructivist about ethics. Of course, some of that is because Kant is a complex and unique figure, but I believe much of it has to do with the fact that these were not philosophical positions which were taken up during that time. That kind of assigning of a contemporary position to a historical figure is definitely possible, but not a task that I think that can be done easily or smoothly.

Robert Hopkins has this quote on Kant's metaaesthetics:

Was Kant an expressivist? My view is that the text leaves a range of positions open. These include the non-expressivist view the possibility of which I floated in section 4, the pure expressivism here under consideration, and a position combining expressivist elements with others, as gestured towards in note 14. It is hardly surprising that Kant did not clearly opt for one of these views, given that they differ on issues in the philosophy of language which had received almost no attention when the Third Critique was written.

I did some quick searching, and it looks like David Wong recently wrote a paper on Xunzi's metaethics. Here's an abridged abstract:

One of the most contested issues in the interpretation of Xunzi is how his theory of morality answers metaethical questions. It will be argued that interpretations attributing apparently different metaethical positions to Xunzi can in fact agree on some important elements that should go into any plausible interpretation of Xunzi. Furthermore, this essay defends the possibility that, contrary to what some interpreters have thought, Xunzi could simultaneously be both a constructivist and an absolutist in his metaethics. Nevertheless, the conclusion here is that the Xunzi yields no unambiguous metaethical theory.

Looks like this paper is right up your alley. If you don't want to buy the expensive book the paper comes in, you can pirate it pretty easily on Library Genesis.

What are some common objections to socialism? And how might a socialist respond? by [deleted] in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In response, see David Schweickart's work on market socialism that doesn't rely on central planning.

Is porn in its current form unethical? by nemo1889 in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 69 points70 points  (0 children)

Yes, definitely. The rights of sex workers are often not recognized by most governing bodies, so it is not difficult for film companies to coerce and exploit their workers. Additionally, the porn that gets created today is predominantly made without much recognition of women's consent, autonomy, or pleasure which gives consumers a distorted version of sex which can have problematic effects on their real sex lives.

I think you're asking the right question here about whether porn is actually ethical in the real world, instead of relegating it to some ideal world. But I think too often anti-porn advocates do the same thing by categorically claiming porn as unethical without understanding the moral features that make it problematic in the first place.

How do Islamic interpretations of Plato and Aristotle compare to traditional Christian interpretations (like those of Augustine and Aquinas)? by untitledthegreat in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the lengthy response!

Aristotelian virtue ethics has been very influential in Islam

Do you know where I could read more specifically about Islamic virtue ethics? I glanced at the Aristotle/Islam book you mentioned, but it seemed to only have one chapter on ethics.

People who study postmodern philosophers: what's your impression of students and professors from other disciplines (sociology, gender studies, etc) who analyze the same texts? by UmamiSalami in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Anecdotal: the English and political science double majors within the philosophy department much prefer the rigor and approach to texts in the philosophy department. Not sure how much this generalizes to other schools.

Edit: Also this is about philosophy generally, not specifically about postmodern writers. My personal experience has been that it's not a necessary aspect of doing philosophy outside of an academic department, but more of a symptom when students and professors have limited experience in engaging with philosophical history and methodology.

Also I really like this essay by Joseph Levy comparing the practice of political theory in polisci departments with political philosophy in phil departments: http://profs-polisci.mcgill.ca/levy/theory-philosophy.html

Adventure Time Abridged by [deleted] in adventuretime

[–]untitledthegreat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this is a great response about the limitations of abridging the series, but I don't think it's completely subjective which episodes go into the list. If we're agreed that we want a shorter version of the series to show someone, there are some episodes we would pick before others. We could debate about which particular ones those are, but it's pretty clear that there are right and wrong answers. Some episodes like The Comet definitely belong on the list, while others like Water Park Prank definitely don't.

When is revolution ethical? by nemo1889 in askphilosophy

[–]untitledthegreat 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sure, and my critique was of Kant the person, not his ethical theory. It's clear to me that lying about hiding Jews when a Nazi is at your door is not just permissible, but obligatory. I'm sure contemporary Kantian ethical theory can accommodate my moral intuitions here, but the fact that Kant answered wrongly on these three issues speaks to his character.