Alex’s Reviews > Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments: A Stone Reader > Status Update

How Should We Respond to "Evil?" (Steven Paulikas) - Evil is difficult to define due to its history as a theoretical concept, and is often politically used for anything that disagrees with one's worldview. Evil is not a singular thing, but rather a grander storyline, part of a myth. We should respond not with violence but with a commitment to relieve and stop the suffering caused by this evil.

Moral Camouflage or Moral Monkeys (Peter Railton) - It is the intersection between human culture and natural selection that allows us to continue to advance our society. Crude tools, such as natural selection, can make more refined ones that greatly shape our world and culture.

Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene (Roy Scranton) - Humanity has already doomed itself to die a long death due to the effects of climate change. We cannot live tomorrow as if it is just today. We must accept that humanity is already dead and free ourself to face every problem with fear and anew

Evolution and Our Inner Conflict (Edward O. Wilson) - The leading human instinct is multilevel selection, were social behavior improves the cognitive ability of entire group. Humans having overpowering instinct to belong to a group and this advantage builds the social intelligence through using the group for more altruistic behavior.

A Life Beyond “Do What You Love” (Gordon Marino) - “Do what you love” is such a general statement that conflicts with what is needed in a given situation. A better guidance is the idea of self-fulfillment, where one can find a harmony between talent and purpose

Why Life is Absurd (Rivka Weinberg) - Life’s absurdity comes from the time that we humans have. Because it is so short and because it is so ill fitting to our aims and purposes, our ambitions are too large for it. As such, regardless of the space or the time we have, this aspect of absurdity always stands true

Against Invulnerability (Todd May) - Invulnerability, as described in doctrines and such, should be seen as an exercise for the human condition rather than a goal. For it is critical to understand the ebbs and lows of what life gives; that the world is contingent, and every path is what we make it to be at a given time

Being There: Heidegger on Why Our Presence Matter (Lawrence Berger) - It is through our interactions and presence with worldly entities, rather then simply explanations, that we understand them on a fundamental level. There more attention we give to them, the more we are in their presence

The Light at the End of Suffering (Peg O’Connor) - Suffering is a needed human conflict in order for a transform and change of beliefs. While there are different thresholds of “how much we can take”, it is through a surrender of beliefs, an interaction with a higher power and the post-suffering clarity that we can move past our misery and grow

There is No Theory of Everything (Simon Critchley) - Modern scientific thinking has conditioned us to keep looking for an “ultimate solution” for problems where there might not be one or just thinking about the question is more worthwhile. There are times where such processed and conclusive thinking is helpful; but there are others where the answer might as well be “42”