chaospet

Greetings and welcome one and all to the fabulous 86th Philosophers’ Carnival, hosted this week here at chaospet. I’ve rounded up a nice selection of bits and pieces of Philosophy from the various corners of the internets, and hope that you will find them interesting. So come on in, take a look around, and enjoy the show!

I. Aaron Weingott argues that romantic relationships are only instrumentally valuable, whereas strong friendships have intrinsic worth. One imagines that Aaron’s arguments could be used to lend philosophical support for that familiar idiom regarding the relative worth of relationships with those with whom you have formed a brotherly (or sisterly) bond of friendship and relationships that are merely of a romantic nature.

II. Ben Burgis clearly and forcefully criticizes Gil Harman’s claim of a sharp distinction between logic and reason, boldly arguing for the very controversial view that logical considerations may indeed place some constraints on what counts as reasonable.

III. Michael Fridman argues that contrary to popular belief human life is not priceless, but rather that morality demands that we put a boundary on the amount we are willing to expend for the sake of saving a single human being. A disturbing enough view on its own, but the current rate of depreciation of the value of a human life only makes it even moreso.

IV. Jonathan Ichikawa utilizes a very… vivid (adults only please) example to demonstrate that it is in fact possible to wrongly stipulate a definition.

V. Here Michael Drake engages in the severe exploitation
of Third World Zombies, using them to argue clearly and
compellingly for some deep conceptual difficulties that
arise for thought experiments that rely on the Philosophical
Zombie hypothesis. Protesters of Zombie exploitation are
encouraged to contact Mr. Drake directly.

VI. David Gawthorne makes an interesting argument from the nature of phenomenal consciousness to the conclusion that Presentism must be true.

VII. Enigman forcefully objects to an argument by
Simon Blackburn (which itself draws on an argument
made by David Lewis) that fallaciously aims to
establish that Philosophers ought to keep their
mouths shut about philosophical considerations that may
challenge accepted views in the Maths and Sciences.

VIII. Jacob Wintersmith objects to a novel line of argumentation made by John Turri which aims to establish the possibility of gaining a priori knowledge of contingent facts.

IX. Thom Brooks responds to recent arguments
made by Cheshire Calhoun and Martha
Nussbaum in defense of Polygamy. Brooks
argues that Polygamy is a structurally
inegalitarian practice (in both theory and fact)
and for this reason it ought to be opposed.

And finally:

X. Emil Kirkegaard discusses the modal fallacy, and how it can be and is commonly used to make fallacious arguments about God’s foreknowledge and human freedom.

Philosophy in Webcomics (bonus!)

Since this edition of the Philosophers’ Carnival is being hosted on a Webcomic, I found it only fitting that in addition to linking awesome philosophy blogs, I also direct you to a few recent webcomics with interesting philosophical content.

First up, Ryan North explores in hilarious fashion the difficulties of assessing members of other cultures and times by our own standards.

Over here, the Nietzsche Family Circus randomly combines two classic favorites with often hilarious results. You may refresh for new results, but be warned that excessive repetitions may result in eternal recurrence.

Randall Munroe uses math and puns to challenge the common sense analysis of the conditions for relationship status.

Here you can see a fun Nietzsche comic by the fabulous Kate Beaton (it is the first comic on the page), along with several other fun and awesome comics about historical figures.

And finally (pardon the self-indulgence please), here is a recent one of my own in which I propose a new zombie based theodicy.

And THAT IS IT for this edition of the Philosophers’ Carnival. Hope you had fun. Tune in on March 2nd when Jonathan Ichikawa will host the next edition. If you are interested in making a submission to the next edition of the Carnival, just click right here. Cheers!