Empathy
The past few (regular) posts were used to introduce my view of systems of morality. The two on relativism argued that all systems must be given credance as there is no universal standard by which to...
View ArticleAbortion And Sex
Of all the hot-button moral issues out there, abortion is quite possibly the most sensitive, and most disputed. When all other arguments have been uneasily reconciled, there will always bile and...
View ArticleAbortion And Autonomy
In the last post I noted that the problem with abortion is weighing up the different interests: Most obviously, the right to life of the foetus and the right to autonomy and choice of the woman. While...
View ArticleAbortion And Rape
It has always struck me that one of the biggest problems for the mainstream pro-life movement is their position when it comes to abortion after rape. It seems difficult for them to find a position on...
View ArticleAnimal Rights - Justification
I have been a vegetarian for seven months now. The cravings for meat have mostly gone away now, and I feel happy to have gone with my conscience on this one. However, I still get baffled friends and...
View ArticleAnimal Rights - Practicality
The last post was an attempt to explain why animals should be treated with empathy in their own right, rather than just in order to appease humans. Now it is necessary for me to explain how to apply...
View ArticleThe Purpose Of Ethics
This post will consider the purpose of ethics and ethical theory, and in it I hope to explain the importance of consistency in ethical theory. The reason for this is that there is a potential objection...
View ArticleGod and Authority
In this post I would like to point out two problems with the idea that God created morality, going further than the arguments in my post about Relativism. These arguments will not necessarily work...
View ArticleThe Sanctity of Life
This will be my first post in response to what I have read of Peter Singer's work. I was not expecting to agree with all of his work, despite him being in broadly the same camp as me in terms of...
View ArticleAbortion Debate
I am in the middle of an interesting discussion about abortion which is taking place across two left-wing, pro-choice blogs I frequent. It started out with this post:Sufficient Scruples - Keeping It...
View ArticleLife, Death, Abortion and Animals
In this post I explained how the sanctity of life ethic behind the idea that human life and only human life is sacred from conception stems from the idea that ethics is about upholding God's property...
View ArticleActs and Omissions
My final critique of Peter Singer (for now) will focus on one of his less publicised but more striking claims. This is that there is a moral obligation on everyone in affluent countries to give very...
View ArticleBefore and After the Person
Now that I am finished with my posts about Peter Singer I feel ready to explain my position on some of the issues which came up in this debate. While I have explained my basic position on abortion in...
View ArticleDivine Command
I have now featured in the Philosopher's Carnival twice (here and here), and hope to continue submitting posts to it despite confining my knowledge of and real interest in philosophy to a few areas...
View ArticleNon-Religious Pro-Life
In this post, Jeremy who is guest blogging at Philosophy et cetera argues that the pro-life argument is not necessarily religious. I have said before that the sanctity of life view rests on a worrying...
View ArticleRacism and the Pro-Life Connection
I recently read a pro-lifer suggest that the pro-life position would one day come to be seen as the anti-racism position now is. It got me thinking about the connection between the two, and I came to a...
View ArticleSelf-Corruption
In my opinion, the harm principle is often construed far too narrowly to adequately encompass the whole range of moral wrongs. I submit that the biggest common omission is self-corruption, and that...
View ArticleSelf-Corruption and Legal Obligation
In my previous post I discussed self-corruption and how it should influence our view of morality and the harm principle. Here, to begin my reflections on the relationship between law and morality, I...
View ArticleLaw and the Harm Principle
One of the biggest issues straddling the areas of ethics, law and politics is how far ethics should be implemented as law. Of course not all law attempts to implement pre-existing moral duties. Often...
View ArticleTorture: Ethics v Law
In the previous post I explained my broad theory of the moral limits of the law. It can be summarised in this way: The moral limits of the law should not depend on the subject-matter in question, but...
View ArticleTort's Wrongs, Part 1: Loss of a Chance
Tort embodies the odd distinction of being one of the branches of law least recognisable by name, while actually being one of the top contributors to stereotypes of lawyers and the law. It is the law...
View ArticleTort's Wrongs, Part 2: Damages and Loss
In the previous post I suggested that instinctive justice required a penal element to tort law, in the area of causation. Today I will argue the same thing in an area which actually has, in some ways,...
View ArticleTort's Wrongs, Part 3: The Impecunious Defendant
The final example I shall use in this series is theoretically the simplest. It deals with the ability of the defendant to pay the compensation ordered. Simply put, even if a case is watertight and a...
View ArticleTort's Wrongs, Conclusion: A New Frontier
In the past posts I have given three examples of the tension in tort law between its compensatory role and its penal role. The latter is habitually denied by judges but is impossible to ignore without...
View ArticlePolitics and the Judiciary
There is a wide debate on the role of politics in adjudication, and I am going to wade in and say that it's not a good idea. No, really. This brings a number of difficult problems. Firstly, what about...
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