Aristotle was the first to systematically lay out various living things in the world. According to him, they could be divided into three categories: plants, animals and rational beings (humans). Insofar as biology is concerned, human beings are animals. Therefore, there were two biological categories: plants and animals. Carl Linnaeus extended this knowledge to cover … Continue reading Taxonomy (Or Why Modern Biological Categories are Wrong) – Simply Philosophy
Psychology Archives - Simply Philosophy
Stories & Philosophy – Simply Philosophy
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Stories are fun to read, a part of everyone’ s life and something that is interesting to discuss. Any philosophical analysis begins with a definition and a discussion of the existence of the topic, so I will start there. Stories are a connected series of event(s) involving at least one character. Anything that fits this … Continue reading Stories & Philosophy – Simply Philosophy
I was reading an short post by Jessie Golem on the topic of abortion recently. Jessie argued that abortion should not be denied to those who were victims of rape. She had a number of other arguments as well, but I wish to focus on this one. If abortion really is murder, and murder is … Continue reading Abortion is Murder, Abortion is Legal – Simply Philosophy
Rationality is something that we do not always understand. Inquiry is something that everyone uses at some point or other. But rationality is more than grammatically correct form and some combination of truthfulness or truth-aptness. Rationality is a presupposition of all inquiry. In other words, every question presupposes that there is a rational answer to … Continue reading Rationality and Inquiry – Simply Philosophy
Political power can be distributed either top-down or bottom-up, but it can also be limited in various ways. There are a number of ways to limit political power. It may be limited by a higher authority, by a lack of need, by a shared moral system or by a shared agreement. These ways of limiting … Continue reading Limiting Political Power – Simply Philosophy
Political Power – Simply Philosophy
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I have shown in a previous series that the existence of a government, the power to tax, imprison and fine individuals and the power to regulate are all necessary on occasion and sometimes morally permissible. However, this does not show that the acts and powers claimed by our present governments are either necessary or morally … Continue reading Political Power – Simply Philosophy
Coercion and Rights – Simply Philosophy
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In the two previous posts I have shown that a common anarchist argument against taxes fails and that the community may morally obtain your property, even if you must be coerced to do so. So it is simple to show that coercion is sometimes permissible in the case of property rights. Governments also claim the … Continue reading Coercion and Rights – Simply Philosophy
Community Assistance | Simply Philosophy
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In a previous post, I explained that a common anarchist argument against taxes fails. But that does not mean that taxes are moral. It just means that one argument against taxes fails. This is my positive argument for taxes (or something like them). I will say upfront that this argument does not justify the taking … Continue reading Community Assistance | Simply Philosophy
One act of entrusting the common good of humanity (as applied to the many) to some within that many creates both a country and a government. But anarchists must believe that such an act is not necessary. For anarchism to be a viable theory, it must be possible for an anarchist to exist in a … Continue reading Is Government Necessary? – Simply Philosophy
The Common Good – Simply Philosophy
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I have previous said that the act that creates government is the act that entrusts some people with the common good. But what is the common good? One way one might be an anarchist is to deny that there is a common good either in general or for governments. This is impossible because every group … Continue reading The Common Good – Simply Philosophy