A Philosopher's Blog

Years ago, Azim Shariff and Kathleen Vohs had their article, “What Happens to a Society That Does Not Believe in Free Will”, published in Scientific American. This article considers the

As a philosopher, I became familiar with the notion of the modern political concept of privilege as a graduate student. This occurred sometimes in classes and sometimes when I was

A longtime issue in college athletics has been whether college athletes should be paid. I heard debates over this when I was a college athlete and, decades later, I still

The rise of social media created a new world for social researchers. One focus has been on determining how quickly and broadly emotions spread online. Over a decade ago, researchers

As I tell my students, the metaphysical question of personal identity has important moral implications. One scenario I use is a human in a persistent vegetative state. I say “human”

Not surprisingly, most sexual assaults on college campuses involve intoxication. One reason is obvious: an intoxicated person is vulnerable. Another reason for this is definitional: most (if not all) colleges

In my previous essay, I presented some groundwork and stage setting for the discussion to follow. In this essay I will look at consent. Intuitively, what makes some activities wrong

A basic lesson of philosophy is that terms need to be properly defined. Oversimplifying a bit, a good definition needs to avoid being too narrow and too broad. A definition