Philosophy & Ethics

How Global Cultures Struggle To Create Their Own “America”

The pageantry of Oprah Winfrey’s talk show, the Coca-Cola empire, Michael Jackson’s turn from the King of Pop into an iconic global recluse: American pop culture – Hollywood cinema, television, pop music – dominates the rest of the world through its hegemo ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 18 2008 - 10:41pm

Philosophers Don't Just Make It Up As They Go

Yesterday I was facilitating a philosophy discussion at the  New York Society for Ethical Culture  when I found myself all of a sudden defending philosophy from the accusation that it’s all made up stuff. Two of the participants raised the objection from ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Sep 26 2009 - 2:12am

Greed Of Capitalism Debunked- Sort Of

When six day care centers imposed a fine on parents who picked their children up late, tardiness doubled and it stayed high even when the fine was removed. How can it be that a financial penalty made the problem worse? Parents, it seems, stopped seeing lat ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2008 - 3:14pm

Are Arab Journalists Anti-American?

Since September 11, U.S. politicians have repeatedly reminded us that the journalists in the Arab world are biased against America and the West. A new study in the July 2008 issue of International Journal of Press/Politics says that is not the case. To pro ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2008 - 4:49pm

Death On The Net? 60% Of Medicines Sold By Online Pharmacies Are Fake

LONDON, July 2 /PRNewswire/-- The In-Depth Report Examining Internet Pharmacies and Life-saving Medicines Purchased Online was Presented Today by the EAASM at the 3rd Annual Pharmaceutical Anti Counterfeiting Conference in London. The European Alliance fo ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 2 2008 - 10:23am

US Leads In Fair Hiring Standards- Study

U.S. companies are helping spread fair hiring practices across the world as they set up shop in developing nations, according to a new study of gender and age discrimination co-written by a University of Illinois labor expert. American-based firms tend to ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 7 2008 - 12:42pm

China Human Rights Getting Better, At Least According To An Analyst In America

Sociologist Ching Kwan Lee, a sociologist at the University of California-Los Angeles, writes in the summer issue of the American Sociological Association's Contexts magazine that there is a 'quiet revolution' happening among citizens of Chi ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 13 2008 - 11:51pm

Kauffman On Emergence And Reductionism

Since people have asked, here is my take on  Stuart Kauffman’s ideas on reductionism and emergence. Kauffman distinguishes between two types of emergence, “epistemological” and “ontological.” Epistemological emergence is the idea that complex systems cann ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Jul 24 2008 - 10:10am

The Zombification Of Philosophy (Of Mind)

David Chalmers is a famous philosopher of mind. His fame rests in great part on his 1996 book,  The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. It’s too bad that the crucial idea behind the book, dualism, is hopelessly flawed, and-- more surprising ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Jul 30 2008 - 6:54pm

What do you do when a creationist asks for your data?

I apparently missed this little episode in June, when a creationist (with no scientific credentials) read a news piece on the recent work of Michigan State biologist Richard Lenski, and then wrote an obnoxious letter demanding Lenski's data. Lenski ha ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Oct 23 2008 - 12:05am