Summary: Discusses human beings and violence focussing on Steven Pinker’s idea that human violence is decreasing and criticism of Pinker’s views. It touches on pacifism and just violence theory as well as the problem of state violence. It explores tension between the principles self -determination and the duty to protect. Human beings and violence Human history is filled with war and other acts of violence. The natural world […]
Nature and Nuture
Summary: The main idea in this essay is that a person’s nature is like a car’s engine and their environment (nurture) is like the car’s fuel- the one cannot operate without the other. Pavlov’s dog- four main ways behaviour is taught. Human ability to speak is natural- learning a specific language is environmental. How nature […]
Animals
Summary: Sharing the world with animals; Hunter gatherers and animals; Domestication of some animals; The idea that the human world is separate from the animal world; Animals and extinction; Chimps and humans- the ability to predict what another being might do; Friendly foxes; Animal welfare or animal rights; Biotechnology and animals. Sharing the world with […]
Utilitarianism and politics
Summary: However applicable utilitarianism is to the development or assessment of ethics and public policy, in the end, it probably adds little to successful navigation of the political process. In 2010 Professor Peter Singer delivered an oration to the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA). His topic was ‘Ethics & Public Policy’. Professor Singer advocated a […]
The Self
Summary: Discusses religious and philosophical views of the self , the changing self, Demasio’s views on the continuity of the self and location of the self in the brain stem, death and the end of consciousness, debates on the role of the unconscious and Kahneman’s distinction between the experiencing and the remembering self. Religious and […]
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