“It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”
― Ethics of Belief and Other Essays
― Ethics of Belief and Other Essays
“During much of modern moral philosophy the predominant systematic theory has been some form of utilitarianism…Those who criticized them [i.e. the great utilitarians such as Hume, Smith and Mill] often did so on a much narrower front. They pointed out the obscurities of the principle of utility and noted the apparent incongruities between many of its implications and our moral sentiments. But they failed, I believe, to construct a workable and systematic moral conception to oppose it. The outcome is that we often seem forced to choose between utilitarianism and intuitionism. Most likely we finally settle upon a variant of the utility principle circumscribed and restricted in certain ad hoc ways by intuitionistic constraints. Such a view is not irrational; and there is no assurance that we can do better. But this is no reason not to try.”
― A Theory of Justice
― A Theory of Justice
“when an individual or a group of individuals is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he or they are inferior. But the scope of the verb to be must be understood; bad faith means giving it a substantive value, when in fact it has the sense of the Hegelian dynamic: to be is to have become, to have been made as one manifests oneself. Yes, women in general are today inferior to men; that is, their situation provides them with fewer possibilities: the question is whether this state of affairs must be perpetuated.”
― The Second Sex
― The Second Sex
“All honor to those who can abnegate for themselves the personal enjoyment of life, when by such renunciation they contribute worthily to increase the amount of happiness in the world; but he who does it, or professes to do it, for any other purpose, is no more deserving of admiration than the ascetic mounted on his pillar.”
― Utilitarianism
― Utilitarianism
“Asking people to give more than almost anyone else gives risks turning them off. It might cause some to question the point of striving to live an ethical life at all. Daunted by what it takes to do the right thing, they may ask themselves why they are bothering to try. To avoid that danger, we should advocate a level of giving that will lead to the greatest possible positive response.”
― The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty
― The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty
Sentientism
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"Sentientism is an ethical philosophy that grants degrees of moral consideration to all sentient beings. Sentientism extends humanism by showing compa ...more
Anarchist & Radical Book Club
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This is a group to read and discuss anarchist practice and theory, by gathering a large body of anarchist literature, non-fiction, and theory, as well ...more
Ariel’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Ariel’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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