Philosophy & Ethics

Knowledge is not an edifice built upon a foundation of indubitable facts, but an interpretative web of mutually supporting beliefs and desires being rewoven. Friedrich Nietzsche sees the self as a multiplicity of social structure, perception, and the nature of being. One’s perception is not a simple perspective but a complex construct of physiological, psychological, and intellectual functions (Cox, 1). Sensations one experiences is not a direct reflection of the world but an interpretatio…

Looking back throughout history most wars are pretty dumb, but can a dumb war be morally Just? There are five qualifications Just War Theorists use to evaluate wars, in this article I'll break down the Pastry War between France and Mexico in 1838. In full disclosure, I chose the Pastry War because of its superficial absurdity. I wanted to find the dumbest full-fledged conflict that I could, put it through the grinders of Justice, and see what our war ethicist buddy O’Brien comes up wit…

If God does not exist, man, therefore, is only beholden to man–and in turn, all is permissible. The quintessential existentialist claim of “existence prior to essence” traverses in the opposite direction of thousands of years of thought and the commonly held subscription that the Western world has been raised on–“essence prior to existence.” Granted, those making such existentialist claims prior to the Enlightenment were burned at the stake; being branded a heretic silenced many forms of th…

In this mini-documentary, Sean Hammond explores the philosophy behind artist intention and its value when understanding works of art. Filled with interviews and illustrative examples ranging from music, painting, sculpting, and literature; the primary question centralizes around which matters more when evaluating art - the audience interpretation or artist intention? Why Was The Video Created? Created for information and educational purposes only. This project was conducted under the Un…

The only limitation made upon your future is the choices of your past. In Ortega’s A Few Drops of Phenomenology, he approaches reality as one approaches a painting in an art gallery. Scenes of life play out on the canvas and depending on where one is standing—the image reveals entirely different meanings, considerations, and understandings. Reality becomes nothing but perspective, and the vibrance of life only increases as one approaches it. To fully appreciate art, one must immerse the…

I’m calling for every philosopher of every disciple to wipe their desks and earnestly devote to artificial intelligence. With the likes of Siri, Alexa, and Google jibber jabbering a response to our commands, and the inspiration of science fiction bringing to life replicants, droids, Johnny 5, Wally, Terminators, Hal, and Bender; witnessing these seemingly human heaps of metal naturally leads to the contemplation of what if they were real? Given our personal and institutional dependence on t…