Virtual Dialectics

The Day The Earth Stood Still and Ethics

Borcoman — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:22:19 +0000

Please feel free to contribute.

How To Write an Ethics Paper

Borcoman — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:15:11 +0000

Schopenhauer on the treament of Animals

Borcoman — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:52:36 +0000

“The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.”

Ethics via AVATAR

Borcoman — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:37:37 +0000

[screencast=http://www.screencast.com/t/uKREhzmgUn]

This presentation covers some background information and cocnepts relating to environmental ethics using the movie by James Cameron: Avatar.

Introductory Ethics Through Twilight Zone: To Serve Man

Borcoman — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:17:52 +0000


Please post a response to the question: Do the Kanamits have a moral obligation to humans? Explain.
Take a short ethics quiz: Click here



Desert Wildflowers-Joshua Tree Mar 31, 2010
Borcoman — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:05:55 +0000


         


The Philosophy of AI
Borcoman — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:56:48 +0000


         


Straw Dogs
Borcoman — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:52:15 +0000
This work by John Gray is exceptionally tantalizing in its approach to the “problem” of free will vs. determinism. The author makes a good case for the idea that we are largely determined by genetic and environmental factors about which we are completely unconscious. His treatement of morality reminds me of David Hume’s concept of empathy and clearly implies the continuity between animal and human-animal nature.

         


Globalization? What are the implications?
Borcoman — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:42:36 +0000
Take a look at this FORA TV video. Let’s talk about the definition and repercussions.

         


Devaluing History
Borcoman — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 19:03:25 +0000
A central question in history (to me) is:  ”Why science and technology and modern civilization developed in Europe rather than ancient Greece, Rome, China, etc.” One idea that has struck me recently is the Christian idea of forgiveness, which in a non-religious sense means that you don’t have to be tied to the past based on guilt or family association (or

caste)… Hence the idea of progress (which some in the middle east and elsewhere would deny.)

Since people always are asking philosophers to be more specific I think we can actually find

ways to measure/quantify how fast different societies devalue the past (e.g 5% per year).  Perhaps the beginnings of a real version of Isaac Asimov’s psycho-history as he wrote about in the Foundation series.

Richard 

http://dimension99.com