In 1974, world-renowned philosopher Robert Nozick posed a question: Suppose the government offers you the option to plug yourself into a tank that will stimulate your brain so you feel happy indefinitely. Would you choose to plug in and float in a tank forever, or remain in the imperfect real world? As humans, we are […]
Tag: philosophy
Dasein and Love
In an essay published in March, I discussed the fundamental contradiction of contemporary society: that we pursue means to achieve other means, with no ultimate end. Instead, our ‘end’ becomes abstracted potentiality: power, the relentless pursuit of which inherently leaves us unsatisfied in our essential need to know and be ourselves authentically. If you have […]
Is Wokeness Philosophically Sound?
“Wokeness” is not new; it is simply the most modern iteration of an identity-oriented, social-justice-minded politics that took off in the U.S. in the mid-1960s. The vanguards of American wokeness were the “New Left,” a notably cerebral, theory-reading contingent of the ‘60s and ‘70s counterculture. As the counterculture waned, many individuals from, or adjacent to, […]
Karl Popper’s Moral Case for Rationalism
One would assume that Austrian-Jewish philosopher Karl Popper’s 1945 book, “The Open Society and Its Enemies,” would be teeming with anti-fascism. However, his highly influential work instead took aim at three philosophers: Plato, Hegel, and Marx, the most recent of whom had been dead for over six decades. Why these targets? Was Popper simply a […]
Science and Philosophy: Friend and Foe to Abortion Debate
March 2021 was an eventful month for abortion in the news. On March 3, The New York Times published an opinion article outlining the political landscape around Roe vs. Wade versus heartbeat bans, one recently passed in South Carolina. No commentary from medical experts was included. Four days later, USA Today published an article titled, […]