Simon Paynton

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Two thinkers who overcame the philosopher’s curse(s).

This article says that the philosopher’s curse is thinking that the world ought to match up with one’s intellectual creations.  That would include ideological thinking and group-think – forcing the mind to accept a certain view of the world, and ignoring facts th…[Read more]

unapologetic wrote:
Does this happen to anyone else?

It never happens to me.  It’s a mystery.

Unseen wrote:
I’m not proposing a college-level course, but rather one that talks about the justification of one’s actions in terms of balancing benefits against consequences and the harm one does not just to society but to oneself through bad moral/ethical choices.

At the end of the day, I think that’s probably the most important take-away fro…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
Nobody ever decided not to murder someone because they remembered a placard on display in their classroom.

I agree with you.  People have to reason it out.  But cultural norms must have a big influence.

Unseen wrote:
I’m not proposing a college-level course, but rather one that talks about the justification of one’s actions in terms of balancing benefits against consequences and the harm one does not just to society but to oneself through bad moral/ethical choices.

That would be a good thing to teach.  But it’s quite simple to teach.  It’s the p…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Why France is banning the Hijab for their Olympic athletes but Amnesty International is not happy about it.

I don’t think that France should ban the Hijab for Olympic athletes.  It’s too much interfering in individual rights.  But

the report argues that the Olympics weaponizes laïcité by imposing restrictions dis…

[Read more]

What can I say?  The average in the US is 98.

unapologetic wrote:
Yeah, but we’re talking about Louisiana. They have been undereducated for generations.

I’m sure the people in Louisiana are as intelligent as anyone else.

Unseen wrote:
How about a course in moral philosophy instead?

I think that’s a good idea in principle.  In practice, contemporary moral philosophy is mostly, hopelessly, up its own arse.

As @davis once pointed out, they are using moral philosophy quite successfully in medical ethics.  This is because in each ethical system or scheme there are p…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Why Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law is a broken moral compass.

The author, Dan Ariely, makes a good case that morality should be taught in schools, because students need to engage with it and have a hand in creating it, in order to want to follow it, which is understandable.  What makes it legitimate is being an au…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
President Biden wrote on social media that he was ending his campaign for re-election after intense pressure from within his own party.

Woo hoo!  He’s a good guy, but he’s got to go.