In a recent post, I tried to start a deeper discussion with Milan about what it means to act ethically in these needful times with respect to climate change.
I’m not sure if he meant this post as a response to my post, or as a response to the ongoing discussion on carbon ethics – but [...]
Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category
On Carbon Ethics, Individual action, and the Value of Slow Travel
Posted in Capitalism, Cross Canada Trip, Ethics, Philosophy, Technology, Trains, global warming on November 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
On Topics for Writing: “Hot Cognition” and Play
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, beginning, writing on November 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Earlier this term I wrote a list of ten topics that I need to write on. These are not topics on which I have complete expertise, but they are issues on which I have opinions which ought be communicated. I thought I could write on one a day, or one every few days, and that [...]
Carbon Ethics and Future Worlds
Posted in Cross Canada Trip, Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, Technology, global warming on November 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The Walt Disney company calls some of its imagineers “futureologists”, specifically if they work on Tommorowland or on the Future Worlds Pavilion at Epcot Centre. They are charged with visioning and representing futures. Futures are aspects of the present that project forward in time rather than space, so that we can anticipate what is to-come. [...]
“Chic-ness” and Cheapness – the materiality of the modern aesthetic
Posted in Body Phenomenology, Capitalism, Ethics, Food, Pragmatics, Pubs, Technology, Things, coffee, writing on November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We find today everywhere examples of mass produced luxury. Sitting in a coffee house atop dark wood chairs, next to a floor to ceiling fireplace adorned with an exotic artwork, I am both everywhere and nowhere. Starbucks, or Second-Cup, even the new-look Macdonalds embrace an architecture of bare wood, rock and leather wingback chairs alongside [...]
On Rememberance Day
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, God, Philosophy, writing on November 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
On Remembrance Day we are expected to honour soldiers. Soldiers who made individual sacrifices, for the sake of us – so that we can partake in the value(s) they defended. This is what is asked of us “in return” for their “gift”.
But is this demand without political, contemporary interest? Are we expected to value the [...]
“Hyperstylish Objects” and Things
Posted in Being, Ethics, Philosophy, Things on October 21, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Walking through Old Montreal with my Mother, popping into galleries filled with 5000$ paintings (and people buying them!), we came across the strangest store. Called “Hyper-Stylish Books and Objects”, it was superficially a book store. But, unlike any book store I’d ever seen before – all of the books were wrapped in plastic. So, you [...]
On Time and Engagement in the Present
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics on October 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Today, two events occurred that together brought me to a clarifying thought about the ways we are in-time today. The first was a conversation with a retired professor, and the second was an entry on Milan’s excellent blog.
John was making the not too controversial point that the institution of texting, tweeting, being on the computer [...]
Obscure Band Showcares: Part 2 of 3 – the Consumer Goods
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Music on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Consumer Goods are a Winnipeg band that are not afraid to voice their opinions on political issues. Their Myspace page is littered with songs about the department of national defense, police violence, the Canadian occupation of Afghanistan, and the erosion of abortion rights in the U.S.
Their frontman, Tyler Shipley (one of my only friends [...]
The arrival of the future. Part 2 of 3: Unmaned Aerial Vehicles
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, Technology, beginning on September 24, 2009 | 19 Comments »
As children the notion of unmanned aerial attack vehicles, engaging human targets with their computer brains, was reserved for the realm of dystopian science fiction. However, vehicles that can fly autonomously are possessed by the military of the United States and Israel. Machines that engage human targets under no direct supervision by a pilot are [...]
Social Beliefs and Personal Values
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Pragmatics on September 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I often make the case that torture in the middle ages was a moral act. Given what people believed about the afterlife, torture wasn’t just morally neccesary or acceptable, in certain situations it was downright deserving of approbation:
“The penal law sought to save [the accused's] soul. For this reason, a convictd person who confessed could [...]
