Tending to the Demise: Book Review of ‘Being Mortal’
In America, and indeed worldwide, death is an abstract that lingers at the periphery of waking life until its reality comes crashing down. Though many of us see depictions of […]
Category Archives: Ethics & Philosophy
The Fiction Fallacy: Part 2, What Now?
In the first part of my exploration of the Fiction Fallacy, I argued that we cannot derive knowledge of the external world from fictions whatsoever. Now, it may occur to […]
What Can We Ask about Sexual Assault and Greek Life
Why Rampant Sexual Assault in Greek Life Should Not Surprise Us Within my first week of college at American University, I was told that Epsilon Iota (EI) was notorious for […]
The Fiction Fallacy: Part 1, The Problem
In the day to day tedium of life, I often turn to fiction for comfort. I appeal to fictions in part because they help pass the time, and also because […]
On the Boundaries of Bioethics: Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Euthanasia
Prelude One February night, my father and I were waiting at a commuter train station in the suburb where he lived. We were waiting to pick up a friend coming […]
Of Hidden Gods: Sometimes Absence of Evidence IS Evidence of Absence
I love this popular little mantra: the absence of evidence isn’t the evidence of absence, also known as the fallacy of the argument from ignorance. If you’re not already familiar with […]
Alan: Or, My Friend the Utility Monster
Warning: This post deals with some pretty unusual philosophy. You may want to prepare by reading this Facebook status, which is a quick, bare-bones summary of what I’ll be talking […]
The Ethics and Economics of the “Good Death”
Brittany Maynard and Death with Dignity Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old woman who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, has recently pushed the question of physician-assisted suicide back into […]
Ownership vs Stewardship: Beyond the Binary in the Assisted-Suicide Debate
I first became interested in the debates surrounding assisted suicide through watching my father battle cancer. His story is, sadly, unremarkable in the sense that like so many before him, […]
Making Better Use of Humanity’s Most Valuable Resource: Good Ideas
Srinivasa Ramanujan has an interesting life story. As a child in India, Ramanujan was a mathematical prodigy, but lacked access to teachers who could help him exploit that brilliance. Instead, he […]
Applied Sentience 