THE Second IN A SERIES RESPONDING TO THE FOUR ONLINE 'ABCS OF SOCIALISM’ LECTURES.
I SUMMARIZE AND RESPOND TO Adaner Usmani’s ARGUMENT about how leftists should consider the role of human nature in society.
David Hume on the Foundations of Promises
David Hume provides a wonderfully structured argument about the nature of promises and the obligations they create between us. He argues that promissory obligation is incoherent without a history of pragmatic social conventions. This essay summarizes his argument and gives additional comments in the context of Margaret Gilbert’s book Rights and Demands.
Consequentialism and War-Crime Trials
I take a consequentialist approach to measuring the success of war-crime trials. Trials analyzed include the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Nuremburg Trials, and those after the Rwandan genocide.
Introduced in the essay is the concept of closure: a desirable end to conflict among all parties involved, arrived at by successfully addressing the ideological/societal rift at the root of the initial conflict.
The Liar's Paradox: A Supertask?
Self-referential and negating, the classic Liar's Paradox creates a contradiction that challenges our basic intuitions of semantics and syntax.
I present an often overlooked interpretation of the same statement, and similar, revealing problems arise.
Notes & Reflections on “Why Do Socialists Talk So Much About Workers?” with Vivek Chibber
The first in a series responding to the four online 'ABCs of Socialism' lectures.
I summarize and respond to Vivek Chibber's argument that Leftists need to refocus on the working class as a righteous and practical issue.
Knowledge as a Form of True Belief; Understanding as Forms of Justified Belief
An essay in response to Duncan Pritchard's views of 'knowledge' and 'understanding'. Written for Pritchard's class: Topics in the Theory of Knowledge.