Philosoffee

The following is another recording we made back when the site was going to be called Dubitandum. In it, we discuss some thoughts around the philosophy of anti-natalism, which is the belief that life is so horrible that having a child is actually immoral. Enjoy!

I am a free speech absolutist, and yet... Well, before I even finish that thought, let me point out why as a free speech absolutist I feel it is important to acknowledge and consider criticisms of absolute free speech. If having free speech means anything at all, it means that we can think about or debate any topic, no matter how abhorrent it may seem to some people. A society with truly free speech allows for heretics to critique the dominant religion; it allows for dissenting political views; it allows for competing moral claims. People can voice their dissent and voice their thoughts no matter how shocking. Someone, somewhere, will be egregiously offended, perhaps even to tears and panic attacks, at the content of some speech, but if we are to have genuine intellectual and moral freedom then this is simply a price we must pay. All topics are open for debate. But, if free speech advocates like myself are going to be consistent, then we must acknowledge that this even includ...

Life, as it turns out, can be a pretty bad deal. There are a great many things that remind us of the fact that our comfort and happiness is not at all the prerogative of the universe. Disease, sever disability, war, interpersonal loss, death, self-doubt, shame, guilt, failure. The list goes on. And, even if you're feeling pretty good about life right now, its really just a matter of time until something bad happens to you. For example, getting a new pet is always a setup for later tragedy, as we all know that (with the notable exception of tortoises) we will outlive them; we know up front that a day will come when we have them put to sleep, or when they die on their own. Human relationships, of course, bring their own misery. Assuming that you secure lifelong love and close friends, these relationships will terminate in death. Sad funerals are the price we pay for successful love and friendship. And lest you think you can duck out of pet ownership and human companionship, ...

Let me say, upfront, that I couldn't figure out how to embed the video link without it looking like I'm about to sneeze. Most of the online political interactions I see are horrifyingly bad. They're poorly argued, barely founded on reasonably claims (let alone reliable evidence), and typically resort to name calling. I was thinking about this the other day, and wanted to put up a short video to share some thoughts with you all. Thanks for listening!

Physical and Metaphysical Complications For our first full theme, we wanted to look at a topic which touches both upon explicitly philosophical issues as well as deeply personal aspects of our being. And what is more personal than the self? So, if we want to understand ourselves in a more philosophical light, then a natural place to start is to ask what the self is. This question, as we are used to hearing, is a difficult one. Those who would tell you otherwise are merely dull to the profound difficulty that comes with trying to precisely define what is true about the experience of billions of people. By the very nature of selfhood, the investigator who would pry into its being is limited to a test-case of only one; namely, themselves! Any given self cannot get beyond its own strictly limited being so as to take account of its perceptions "from outside itself". This has to do with the metaphysical nature of selfhood. To be a consciousness is to be conscious of somet...