Animal Ethics and Environmental Ethics: What’s the Difference?

In some respects, animal ethics has more in common with anthropocentric ethics than it does with environmental ethics.

Existentialism in Twentieth-Century Culture

Existentialism captures the popular imagination partly because it’s so much more than just philosophy.

What Is Existentialism Part Four: “Broad Church” Existentialism

The term “existentialism” has taken on a life of its own and has found application in a wide range of contexts. In a wry nod to existentialism’s complicated relationship with religion, I’ll call this broader movement “broad church existentialism.”

What Is Existentialism? Part Three: Historical Antecedents

“It doesn’t have to be this way” could be the rallying cry of existentialism. You’re free to live otherwise than you do, and if you hew to the life you’re leading, that, too, is your choice, and that choice is your responsibility. This sort of thinking didn’t burst onto the scene in the nineteenth century.

[Starting Points] What Is Existentialism? Part 2: Existentialist Themes

One way to understand existentialism is as an attempt to find meaning in a world that’s lost its faith.

[Starting Points] What Is Existentialism? Part 1: French Existentialism

You don’t get to choose whether or not to make choices. As Sartre memorably puts it, we are condemned to be free.

[Starting Points] Three Confucian Sages of Classical China

Bad times make for good philosophy. As warlords and bandits ravaged the countryside, people found themselves asking what went wrong and what a more harmonious social arrangement might look like.

[Starting Points] Effective Altruism and SBF

My character is shaped by the people around me and the prevailing norms of my culture. If I throw myself into a line of work in which profit maximization overrides all other interests, I’m unlikely to be unchanged by the experience.

[Starting Points] Critical Thinking Calls for Critical Feeling

Critical thinking has an important dispositional element. You need to feel the right way about a problem if you’re going to think well about it.

[Starting Points] Animals Welfare and Animal Rights: What’s the Difference?

I’ll outline the main features of animal welfare and animal rights arguments. At the end, I’ll mention some dissenting voices from both of these strands.