Philosophy & Ethics

Aitzaz, 14 Years, Hero

The 14 year old kid in the picture on the right was named Aitzaz Hasan Bangash. His name is a difficult one to remember for westerners, but that is a pity, because he ended his life as a true hero. Last Monday Aitzaz was lingering out of school with two fr ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 10 2014 - 6:01am

Post-Affirmative Action: Racism Occurs Less Often In College Admissions

For decades, some minority students (blacks, Latinos, native Americans) were given preferential treatment in college admissions while other minorities (Asians) were penalized. This posed a legal and cultural dilemma. Stipulating that recruitment must occu ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 13 2014 - 7:04pm

Euthanasia: Families Support Terminal Sedation For Relatives In A Permanent Vegetative State

The families of some very severely brain injured patients believe that once all treatment options are exhausted, allowing their relatives to die with the help of terminal sedation would be a humane and compassionate option. The authors interviewed the fam ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 2 2014 - 2:20pm

Mathematical Universe? I Ain’t Convinced

So the other day Julia Galef and I had the pleasure of interviewing mathematical cosmologist Max Tegmark for the Rationally Speaking podcast. The episode will come out in late January, close to the release of Max’s book, presenting his Mathematical Univers ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Jan 16 2014 - 10:59am

The Undergraduate Atheists’ Thesis

I am not particularly friendly to the so-called New Atheism. ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Jan 21 2014 - 12:12pm

The Philosophy Of Suicide

In a forthcoming episode of the Rationally Speaking podcast, Julia and I discuss the philosophy and science of suicide, i.e. what empirical inquiry tells us about suicides (who commits them, how, what are the best strategies for prevention) and how philoso ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Jan 27 2014 - 6:04am

The “Meta” Itch

I used to have the “meta” itch, but I learned to live with it and stop scratching it. It only irritates anyway, without doing much good work. Let me explain. If you are a regular (or even occasional) reader of Rationally Speaking you know that we often pub ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Feb 3 2014 - 9:53am

The SciPhi Of Gay Adoption

Gay marriage is rapidly becoming less and less controversial, at least in the Western world. Yes, the battle hasn’t been won just yet, both in Europe and in the US, but we are getting there at a pace that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. T ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Feb 18 2014 - 10:26am

Dear Mr. President: To Restore Trust, Stop Saying That Paul Revere Was An NSA Agent

America has developed a surveillance problem, hiding behind a facade of security. Britain has been down this road before, the average citizen in London is photographed 300 times per day by government, which has done nothing to reduce crime. Thus it makes ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 23 2014 - 5:30am

Genomics May Usher In A New Era Of Scientific Racism

A hundred years ago, progressive efforts to bring about Utopia led to eugenics and social Darwinism, efforts to breed out undesirable traits by sterilizing people who had them. The concept was endorsed by luminaries such as the author H.G. Wells, economis ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 15 2014 - 4:30am