Electric Agora (archive)

Tag: Agency

  • Philosophical Questions and their Answers

    By Daniel A. Kaufman ___ It seems that many – most? – philosophers think that what philosophy is about is arriving at true positions on subjects ranging from morality, to knowledge, to reality, and the like. They think there is a determinate answer as to whether moral realism or anti-realism is true or whether the…

  • Standards

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ____ Both religion and philosophy endeavor to provide us with objective standards for our moral and aesthetic and other judgments, as well as our actions. Religion does it by stipulating a supreme authority in the person of God, while philosophy does it by appeal to reason and rationality, the authority of…

  • Wanting and Doing

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. –Paul, Letter to the Romans 7.15 (Revised Standard Version) ___ Remarks by Crispin Sartwell on addiction, during our second dialogue on my Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics,…

  • Why The Free Will Problem Isn’t One

    by Daniel A. Kaufman First of all, the “Free Will Problem” is a stupid  name.  I mean, do I have to think there is such a thing as a “will” in order to believe in Free Will?  Or “freedom,” beyond that of being able to go to the mall, if I want to or not,…