In this post I would like to present an argument against the death penalty based on the philosophical position known as fallibilism. What is fallibilism? Well, the word ‘fallible’ means capable of being mistaken. If we add an “ism” on… Read more ›
One of the most amazing things about the world in which we live is the technology of communication. The written word is printed and distributed quicker than ever before. We have satellite radio and hundreds of TV channels. And now… Read more ›
J.S. Mill (1806-1873) John Stuart Mill, in his classic book On Liberty (1859), offers one of the most enduring principles in political philosophy. This principle has come to be known as the harm principle and it is a widely embraced principle in… Read more ›
Fighting the Gravity of Vice: An Essay on Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth Dwight Goodyear Introduction (Spoiler Alert) The cult classic The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) is one of my favorite films. It was directed… Read more ›
A scientific theory must give rise to a testable hypothesis. If someone has, for example, a scientific theory about how COVID-19 can be eradicated then we would expect that theory to offer us ways we can test it and prove or disprove… Read more ›
In the last post (go here) we saw what President Biden meant by unity in his inauguration speech, how his call for unity led to widespread criticism, and how there is evidence of Americans seeing each other as bad people… Read more ›
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for nine minutes and twenty nine seconds while he was lying face down handcuffed on the street. His death, and many other… Read more ›
In his classic work On Liberty (1859), John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) claimed that the freedom of thought and discussion was indispensable to a free society. Mill’s argument in defense of this freedom revolves around fallibilism or the view that no… Read more ›
In his essay “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings” William James (1842-1910) argues that our ideals and ideas are intimately associated with our feelings. This can be a good thing since feelings both enable our ideas about things to… Read more ›