Philosophical Explanations

Respect, Race, and Torture

If you’ve got enough time this finals season to go through the Spec archives, I strongly recommend Candyce Phoenix’s 2006 op-ed, “Test-Tube Identities.” (I know that she and I are probably the only

By | Apr 28 08:09 pm ET

Everyone, Let’s Drop Out of School

It’s April!

By | Mar 31 08:12 pm ET

This Column Is for You, Mom

If you’re anything like my mother, you’re suspicious of philosophy (you’re also worried that I don’t call you often enough).

By | Feb 25 08:51 pm ET

Foucault and Facebook

I’m spending the year at Cambridge (that other English university), and aside from the normal cross-cultural confusions­—we have bathrooms, they have loos, we have irony, they have absurdity

By | Feb 11 07:53 pm ET

Calvinism and the Case for Immorality

This article involves some numbers and some long-ish thought experiments, but I hope you’ll be patient because it’s an argument for hedonism.

By | Jan 28 08:23 pm ET

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