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A Note to Philosophy Now Readers
If you caught my letter in Issue 175 of Philosophy Now—responding to Jimmy Alfonso Licon’s piece on moral intuitions—thanks for taking the time to look up the site! In that note, I wanted to push past the usual stalemate we get stuck in with potential-futures arguments. Licon rightly observes that if we resist comparing a…
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BEYOND THE ABYSS: SECULARISM, SCIENCE, AND THE TRUTH ABOUT NIHILISM
If you mention the word nihilism at a dinner party, the room tends to shift. The term conjures images of rain-slicked streets, black turtlenecks, or cinematic villains sneering that “nothing matters.” In mainstream culture, nihilism is treated as a psychological virus—an intellectual dead end where despair triumphs and purpose goes to die. For anyone who…
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Objective Morality in a Material World: Thomas Nagel’s Mind and Cosmos
When we say that harming an innocent creature is wrong, or that helping a stranger in need is good, what are we actually asserting? Are we describing an objective truth about the structure of reality—much like stating that the Earth revolves around the Sun or that water consists of hydrogen and oxygen? Or are we…