29 April 2015

Variations on the Trolley Problem


http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/lesser-known-trolley-problem-variations


excerpt:

The Meta-Ethical Problem

There’s an out of control trolley speeding towards Immanuel Kant. You have the ability to pull a lever and change the trolley’s path so it hits Jeremy Bentham instead. Jeremy Bentham clutches the only existing copy of Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Kant holds the only existing copy of Bentham’s The Principles of Morals and Legislation. Both of them are shouting at you that they have recently started to reconsider their ethical stances.

24 April 2015

Reeves at IASH on Wed.


April 29, 2015 IASH Fellows' Speaker Series: Anthony Reeves, (Philosophy) Human Rights, Risk, and Responsibility
Who is responsible for protecting human rights?  In a circumstance where multiple institutions (states, corporations, NGOs, international organizations, etc.) can affect the interests that human rights protect, how should we allocate responsibility for protecting those interests?  I examine several types of normative responses to this question with the aim of identifying a principled basis for approaching it.  Tort law has faced a similar problem: who should mitigate specific dangers to legally protected interests in a pervasively risky interactive environment?  Hence, I attempt to draw some lessons from the theory and practice of torts for the purposes of addressing the moral problem posed by human rights.
Wednesday April 29, 2015, 12:00pm, IASH Conference Room (LN 1106)

23 April 2015

all hail


Christopher Morgan-Knapp has been appointed the new Chair of the Philosophy Department, effective August.


bob question


I know you've been wondering: is that your niece on the cover of the current issue of the Journal of the Utah Music Educators' Association?



yes.

19 April 2015

SPEL Distinguished Speaker 2015


SPEL Distinguished Speaker 2015

Nancy Fraser

Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science
New School University


"Legitimation Crisis? On the Political Contradictions of Financialized Capitalism"


Thursday, 23 April
5:00 - 7:00pm
UUW 324


dinner reception at the DoubleTree afterwards

The answer is simple


your semi-official SPEL Eurovision preview ...

clearly the winners ...

About Uzari&Maimuna

This year, Belarus sends a duet to the 60th Eurovision Song Contest - Uzari and Maimuna. But how does a pop music composer form a duo with a classically-trained lead violinist? The answer is simple: through their shared love of Lord Of The Rings.
but consider also the translated lyrics of the Finnish entry ...

I'M DO IT

I'm do it race
I'm do it handscap
I'm do it hostels
I'm do it furging

No coming machine
No it's television
I'm not see you my friend

here are the lyrics of the Israeli entry ...

I'm a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
I'm the king of fun
Let me show you how we do it
I'm a golden boy
Come here to enjoy
And before I leave
Let me show you Tel Aviv


the Spanish video is pretty awesome ...


I'm predicting victory for Latvia, however.