Atheist Ethicist

I assert that you have an obligation to act in an epistemically responsible manner. The principles that I associate with this include: (...

I came across an interesting and useful article on the debate over internal and external reasons. Wong, David B, "Moral Reasons: Inte...

I have long defended the right to freedom of speech. I have called it a right that creates in others a duty to not respond to words and co...

It appears that a lot of what I have written about recently have to do with being morally responsible for what one believes and the beliefs ...

There are rules governing the use of words in an honest discussion. I was involved in a couple of debates recently involving the principle...

In my last posting I proposed the term "trumpster" as a less vulgar alternative to "bullshitter". I argued that a trumps...

I remember a time, not too long ago, when lying was considered a bad thing. We subjected those who lied to condemnation. They were not the t...

What is a “Constitutional Crisis”? Generically speaking, a "constitution" consists of all of the formal and informal rules under...

I do not have time to read the whole of Derek Parfit’s on What Matters. So, in answer to a suggestion to compare and contrast my views with ...

Recently, I have been reading up on Derek Parfit’s “triviality objection to naturalist reductionism.” Desirism reduces true value claims to ...

No decent, just person would endorse the sentiment expressed in this Trump tweet: So disgraceful that a person illegally in our country ki...

It is interesting how a potential insight might come from the order and timing with which one reads a pair of articles. In my last post , ...

Concerning: Scalia, Antonin, 1989, “The Rule of Law and the Law of Rules,” The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 1175-11...

Well, I am going to see if I can present my objections to the entries in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy to a body of concerned prof...

Regarding the following article: Schroeder, M., 2008, “Having Reasons”, Philosophical Studies, 139: 57–71. Some philosophers seem to be ...

The third step that King identified in proper civil disobedience he called “Purification” The first two steps were: (1) Information gath...

Let us assume that you have done a morally responsible job of determining that your cause is just. There is an injustice happening, and you ...

So, you want to engage in some civil disobedience. There are rules, at least according to the model of Martin Luther King. A cornerstone...

Well . . . I opted to send a letter to the editors of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy informing them that I saw an error in their en...

In April, I will be giving a brief presentation in my Philosophy of Law course concerning civil disobedience, focusing on Martin Luther King...