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1500 questions
47
votes
18 answers
What are the ethical problems with flipping a coin to decide in the trolley problem?
My understanding is that John M. Taurek suggests that, in the trolley problem we should flip a coin when deciding between saving 5 lives versus 1 life (assuming we do not know any of these people). He says that this gives everyone an equal chance of…
user32889
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Why do I accept some inconsequential claims as "obviously true" without evidence? E.g. "Most people don't like to be hit on the head with a hammer."
There are certain claims that I accept as obviously true without (much) evidence. For example:
Most people don't like to be hit on the head with a hammer.
Donald Trump ate dinner some time last week.
There has yet to be a whale on the moon.
I…
Rebecca J. Stones
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46
votes
6 answers
What are the major branches of philosophy?
What are the major branches of philosophy?
(For instance, as a first-order approximation, mathematics can be sub-divided into three main categories at the first level: Analysis, Algebra, and Geometry.)
What are the first few books that every person…
user16
45
votes
13 answers
Do numbers exist independently from observers?
Do numbers have an objective existence? If life had not evolved on planet earth would there be numbers or are numbers an invention of human minds?
Are there any relevant works that discuss this? (I know of Husserl's Über der Begriff der Zahl and…
leancz
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44
votes
6 answers
Is there a term for the belief that "if it's legal, it's moral"?
Sometimes I hear arguments that seem to appeal to the fact that something is morally permissible because it is legally permitted. For example:
Abortion is moral because it's legally permitted. Killing two year olds is immoral because we have laws…
Thunderforge
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43
votes
9 answers
What basis do we have for certainty in current scientific theories?
Given there is much past scientific belief that we now know NOT to be true, what basis do we have for the seemingly increasing certainty in our scientific beliefs held today being true?
On the one hand, we prize Popperian falsifiability and yet…
James Tauber
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42
votes
11 answers
Fallacy by Sherlock Holmes 'Eliminate the impossible, and what remains must be the truth'
In The Sign of Four, Holmes asks Watson: "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"
This may be valid in principle, but it certainly carries the risk of a…
Mogli
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42
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16 answers
Does a negative claimant have a burden of proof?
I have often heard it said that the burden of proof is on the positive claimant but not on the one making a negative claim. A person claiming, "God exists" has a burden of proof but not a person claiming, "God does not exist."
If I assert,…
user409
42
votes
10 answers
What fallacy in Pascal's Wager allows replacing God with the devil?
I wanted to know the name of the fallacy or fallacies the Pascal's Wager in the sense that it can be applied to motivate one's belief in many things. A similar argument to the original Wager can be used to say that it is prudent is to believe in the…
Barinder Singh
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42
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16 answers
How to get started with philosophy without getting overwhelmed quickly?
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find how to get started with philosophy but I can’t. It seems that getting started with computer programming is nothing in comparison - with computer programming it’s like: here are how if statements and for loops…
SBel
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42
votes
8 answers
What did David Hume mean when he said that "reason is a slave to the passions"?
I don't understand the meaning of this oft-quoted quotation of Hume's in On Reason, namely his saying that "reason is a slave to the passions." What exactly does he mean by that ? Is it simply that reason is subsequent to a deeper moral sense? Is…
Uticensis
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42
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10 answers
What is the difference between free-will and randomness and or non-determinism?
In relation to the question "What are the necessary conditions for an action to be regarded as a free choice?", it came up that one way to insure the possibility of free-will was to have more than one choice. But that doesn't separate free-will from…
Mitch
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41
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18 answers
How can one rebut the argument that atheism is inherently immoral?
It not uncommon to see religious people arguing that without the moral center of a religious text, true ethics are impossible.
The reasoning goes that, without a fixed moral center, atheists are free to make up their own beliefs about what is right…
Bob Tway
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40
votes
13 answers
What are the necessary conditions for an action to be regarded as a free choice?
A common philosophical question revolves around the existence of free will, but what I've found is that these debates seem to gloss over the concept of "free will" itself, either taking it as a given that everyone understands what the term really…
Speldosa
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40
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11 answers
What are the ethics of having children today?
Please receive this question as having come from a young person who wants to have children, but given the state of affairs (climate change, growing costs of living and wealth inequality, "technology", the human condition, etc.) is considering to not…
TCP
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