Compare and contrast Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics, Kant’s Deontological Ethics and Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarian Ethics. While eudaimonia was the ultimate objective of Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics, later philosophers began to doubt this notion of happiness. If the happiness is to live the good life, then what is perfect? What’s more, who decides of what is good? All … Read more
Gene editing already has widespread applications, for example, in agriculture, and it has polarized views, with whole anti- GMO movements taking place around the world. Vandana Siva, a social activist from India heavily promotes organically- grown food and is strongly against genetically modified crops in farms (Navdanya, n.d). She believes that ‘the very idea of … Read more
In the book “Idea of Justice”, Amartya Sen argues that traditional political philosophy which talks about the just, or a set of principles which can be used to define perfectly just institutions for governing the society reveals little about injustice and how we can identify and reduce injustices. He describes the Enlightenment thinkers who wrote … Read more
Euthanasia, according to BBC (n.d.), refers to the intentional termination of a life to relieve the suffering of a very sick person. It can be carried out at the person’s requests, or those of their relatives, doctors, or the courts if they are too sick to decide. This practice is illegal in many countries, including … Read more
One area of contention within the ‘Weak Dictator’ debate is surrounding Nazi racial policies, and whether the Racial Policies can be utilised as evidence for Hitler being a weak dictator. The Euthanasia T4 programme, is heavily debated on whether it shows Hitler as a weak or strong dictator. The euthanasia programme was also known as … Read more
The Equal Weight view can be interpreted as entailing that we lack moral knowledge. However, I am now going to go on to dispute this conclusion, primarily by focusing on the definition of epistemic peers and narrowing it so that this unfortunate outcome does not arise. Elga says someone is an epistemic peer if you … Read more
Utrum Whether or not it is the case that capital punishment can be justified on moral grounds. Videtur It seems to be the case that capital punishment can be justified on moral grounds as it does more good than harm. In John Stuart Mill’s “Speech in Favor of Capital Punishment,” he argues that capital punishment … Read more
Main ideas of Utilitarianism, the inherent selfishness that individuals have regarding their own acts of utilitarianism, and its inequality.
Don Marquis makes the case for the immorality of abortion in his paper “Why Abortion is Immoral”. Marquis contends that the premature death of an adult human being is seriously immoral as it deprives them of having a “future like ours”. Furthermore, Marquis contends that while abortion is not the same as premature death, it … Read more
As humans, we seek to uncover the meaning to everything in the universe, and this is the kind of motivation that has lead us to make discoveries such as cures or vaccines. When asked if a particular vaccine prevents small pox for example, a doctor who has done the research and has factual truth would … Read more
The ideal city, or polis, in the eyes in Socrates in Plato’s Republic is one that is just and virtuous, where every single person contributes in one way or another, is enlightened, and is aristocratic. In this city, the people are divided into three different groups, but they all have a vital role. He constructs … Read more
The use of prerogative powers under the direction of the executive is a contentious subject that has been long faced by both historical and contemporary political theorists. Allowing for the exercise of extra-legal powers set within John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government’s (1689) account of political authority, Lockean prerogative theory aims to set forward the … Read more
Frank Jackson’s ‘Epiphenomenal Qualia’ challenges the basic principles of physicalism through the examples of fictional characters named Mary and Fred. Jackson concludes that there are indeed non-physical qualities to experience. In reaching that conclusion, Jackson relies on the Knowledge Argument. The Knowledge Argument, a major component of explaining qualia, provides that complete physical knowledge regarding … Read more
This essay will first outline Mill’s ideas on non-intervention, the colonial exception and how this relates to his ideas on individual liberty, before evaluating how these ideas contradict each other. Firstly, it will contend that his view that colonialism is nurturing the local people to prepare them for gaining individual liberty is inconsistent given the … Read more
I. Introduction Argument from evil is essentially an argument that objects to the existence of God on account of the existence of evil in the world. The fact that evil plagues this world in multitude and enormity consolidates the foundation of atheism. There are four versions of this argument. The first version of the argument … Read more
