Patriotism and nationalism
Back in September 2002, a little girl was born into a Canadian family with a Western dad and an East...
Moral Reasoning
Should policymakers maximize aggregate utility?
I favor a utilitarian approach to public policy. One common objection to this criterion is that we cannot measure utility,...
When Is It Alright to Steal from Bill Gates? A Rejoinder to Bryan Caplan
On July 8, I expressed my shock at co-blogger Bryan Caplan’s statement that it would be morally permissible for John,...
Meaning and connotation
In response to my previous post, commenter BC asked: When you say that you don’t expect Bezos to give away...
Two types of utilitarianism
Here’s Bryan Caplan: I say utilitarianism is utterly crazy. After all, as Huemer previously told us: It’s worth taking a moment to...
Strange moral calculations
The Economist has an interesting article discussing regulatory changes regarding child safety seats: During the Reagan era, only the truly...
Camping Cohen’s Commitment
I posted on May 3 about G. A. Cohen’s use of a camping analogy to make the case for socialism....
G. A. Cohen’s Bizarre Camping Trip
I finally got to read the first two chapters of G. A. Cohen’s book Why Not Socialism? It was one of...
Which ideas are winning?
In any given period of history, there is always a battle of ideas. Thus it’s interesting to think about which...
How many people should we produce?
I don’t know how to answer this question. But recent posts by Tyler Cowen, Ross Douthat and Robin Hanson all...
