Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you -Crowded House “Weather With You”. 0. An obsessive compulsive life Obsessive compulsive disorder is a horrible thing and I would not wish it on anyone. That said, living with OCD has given me a certain way of seeing the world. The insights and viewpoints of … Continue reading OCD: What I learned fighting mind cancer
Category: Above average quality
Against Libertarian Criticisms of Redistribution
Pt 1: Nonaggression tells us nothing about the morality of redistribution According to the non-aggression principle one should never interfere with the person or legitimate property of another without their permission, unless they have initiated aggression against one first. The non-aggression principle is sometimes taken to be a master argument for libertarian views against the … Continue reading Against Libertarian Criticisms of Redistribution
Mistaken Identity and misunderstood interests: Haider and identity politics
I just finished “Mistaken identity” by Asad Haider, and like anyone who has just finished a good book I’m a proselytiser for it. My aim here is to draw out one thread of its multifaceted arguments, that the whole of the working class share a joint interest in abolishing racism in a way that is … Continue reading Mistaken Identity and misunderstood interests: Haider and identity politics
Carving up the philosophical terrain around personal identity a little differently
Warning: I haven’t studied personal identity since a single undergraduate subject, so I’m guessing this distinction already exists in the literature and I just didn’t find it with a cursory search, I claim no originality for this, and if someone can find a source, let me know so I can give credit. Many people are … Continue reading Carving up the philosophical terrain around personal identity a little differently
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the origins of religion
Obsessive Compulsive Disoder (OCD) is well known to interact with pre-existing cultural and religious beliefs and practices. I was interested in coming at it from the other direction- is there evidence that culture, particularly religious culture, has been shaped by OCD? Although I can’t prove it absolutely, I believe I there is enough evidence to … Continue reading Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the origins of religion
Seeing Like a Communist
I read this: “I picked up Inventing The Future… because I feel bad that I’ve never been able to get my head around the communist paradigm. In the past, I’ve learned new paradigms by reading a lot of books from within that paradigm (and hating them) and debating people from within that paradigm (and thinking … Continue reading Seeing Like a Communist
OCD: A poem
After such knowledge what forgiveness? After such knowledge what forgiveness Such after knowledge what forgiveness Such knowledge after what forgiveness Such knowledge what after forgiveness Such knowledge what forgiveness after After such knowledge what forgiveness After knowledge such what forgiveness After knowledge what such forgiveness After knowledge what forgiveness such Such after knowledge what forgiveness … Continue reading OCD: A poem
Why I left philosophy
1. I started working on intuitions. To see what a philosophical intuition is (or rather, what one type of philosophical intuition is), consider the following: You might think knowledge is justified and true belief. But suppose I look at my watch and it says the time is 12:37. On this surely reasonable and justified basis … Continue reading Why I left philosophy
The effects of Kaldor-Hicks improvements in an oligarchical society
0. Given the (debatable) difficulties of interpersonal utility comparison, the Kaldor-Hicks compensation test has been proposed as a way of assessing whether or not a given policy improves social welfare. To understand the idea of a Kaldor-Hicks improvement, we first must introduce the idea of a Pareto improvement, which a Kaldor-Hicks improvement generalises. A policy … Continue reading The effects of Kaldor-Hicks improvements in an oligarchical society
The Paradox of the Crowd
I want to introduce a new paradox. It’s not a strict paradox, but it is of practical concern: The majority opinion in almost every field is more likely to be correct than your own, if your opinion deviates from the majority opinion. This is true even the group has no more raw data than you- … Continue reading The Paradox of the Crowd
DePonySum 