Philosophy
So you're in line at the grocery store and the cashier is just starting to ring up your groceries when you realize you've forgotten something. Is there anything wrong with running back and grabbing it if there is someone behind you? Are you right in being annoyed if the person in front of you does this? Is there a difference between forgetting something and running back for it and getting a spot in line with the intent of finishing your shopping while in line? By getting in line, have you tacitly agreed to have finished shopping?
- Folk Physics
Let's test the intuitions today with one I gave to my first year seminar yesterday: You are sitting in the aisle seat of a jet awaiting take-off when the child next to you hands you his helium balloon. You hold it in your hand next to the aisle as...
- What Is Sexual Orientation?
The George Rekers situation is good for more than just snark. His hiring of a male prostitute for massage purposes with no intercourse was meant to satisfy his urges while granting him plausible deniability that he is gay, after all, he would argue, he...
- Plagiarism And Music
The less short of the short people has begun studying the clarinet. In learning a small piece of Haydn's Surprise Symphony, her teacher was surprised when she added her own ending beyond the piece she was given to work on. Sensing (quite correctly)...
- 4-20: What Is A Drug And How Ought We Deal With Them?
One of the comics last night had a great line. He said a friend told him that doing drugs would catch up with him, so he decided to start doing speed. 4-20 seems as good a time as any to think about drug policy. We draw a distinction on the one hand between...
- Etiquette And Ethics
Been thinking of the line between social mores and morality. Had another funeral this weekend. A not-so-old deadhead friend passed away from cancer and the conversation amongst a bunch of us was whether to wear tie-dye to the service. On the one hand,...
Philosophy
Aisle Be Seeing You: Checkout Lane Ethics
So you're in line at the grocery store and the cashier is just starting to ring up your groceries when you realize you've forgotten something. Is there anything wrong with running back and grabbing it if there is someone behind you? Are you right in being annoyed if the person in front of you does this? Is there a difference between forgetting something and running back for it and getting a spot in line with the intent of finishing your shopping while in line? By getting in line, have you tacitly agreed to have finished shopping?
- Folk Physics
Let's test the intuitions today with one I gave to my first year seminar yesterday: You are sitting in the aisle seat of a jet awaiting take-off when the child next to you hands you his helium balloon. You hold it in your hand next to the aisle as...
- What Is Sexual Orientation?
The George Rekers situation is good for more than just snark. His hiring of a male prostitute for massage purposes with no intercourse was meant to satisfy his urges while granting him plausible deniability that he is gay, after all, he would argue, he...
- Plagiarism And Music
The less short of the short people has begun studying the clarinet. In learning a small piece of Haydn's Surprise Symphony, her teacher was surprised when she added her own ending beyond the piece she was given to work on. Sensing (quite correctly)...
- 4-20: What Is A Drug And How Ought We Deal With Them?
One of the comics last night had a great line. He said a friend told him that doing drugs would catch up with him, so he decided to start doing speed. 4-20 seems as good a time as any to think about drug policy. We draw a distinction on the one hand between...
- Etiquette And Ethics
Been thinking of the line between social mores and morality. Had another funeral this weekend. A not-so-old deadhead friend passed away from cancer and the conversation amongst a bunch of us was whether to wear tie-dye to the service. On the one hand,...