Capacities, Rights, and Essences: Part 1 – Capacities

There are three common bases for moral reasoning that drive me crazy: capacities, rights, and essences. They bug me because they don’t, and can’t, work even though they dominate the popular discourse. They are different in most ways, but I believe their appeal is what they have in common. I will look at each one…

Read More

Philosophy Phridays – The Repugnant Conclusion

Philosophy Phridays is a series where each Friday, I go to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, click on “random entry,” and then write about whatever comes up. This week’s random entry is the Repugnant Conclusion. Today’s topic is from the realm of population ethics. Population ethics poses questions such as, “Should we procreate?” “Is there…

Read More