Young Adults, Free Will, Armed Rebellion, and More
Webcast Q&A: 16 October 2011
I answered questions on judging young adults, voting with your wallet, the evidence for free will, the morality of armed rebellion, and more on 16 October 2011. Greg Perkins of Objectivist Answers was my co-host. Listen to or download this episode of Philosophy in Action Radio below.
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Segments: 16 October 2011
Question 1: Judging Young Adults
Question: How should I judge my college-age peers, given the upbringing they've had? I know that we are ultimately responsible for our actions and our character, yet character is also heavily influenced by our culture, education, and upbringing. I was raised roughly the same way as my peers were, and I went through the same standardized, state-school educational system. Yet I did not end up like them – largely due to the fact that I read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I got to see an alternative to the ideas offered to me, unlike most of my peers. Without that, I could have ended up just like anyone else. Knowing that, I try to treat my peers gently – meaning not taking the bad ideas they hold seriously, showing a benevolent warmth to them, and not focusing too hard on negatively judging their characters. But am I doing right, or should I be harsher in my judgment and treatment of them?
Answer, In Brief: Judging young people fairly requires taking account of their ignorance as they engage in the process of shaping their own souls. You can be kind and just – if you focus on all the relevant facts about the person's context.
Tags: Culture, Education, Ethics, Judgment, Justice, Moral Wrongs, Young Adults
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Question 2: Voting With Your Wallet
Question: Is it wrong to "vote with your wallet"? A liberal friend of mine recently said that he won't vote for political candidates based on his own economic interests – for example, that Candidate A promises to raise taxes on his income bracket, while Candidate B promises to cut taxes for that bracket. He votes based on his agreement with the total political program, not its effects on his paycheck. What's right or wrong with his approach?
Answer, In Brief: To speak of "voting with your wallet" is a horrible package-deal that conflates violations of rights with the protection of rights. A person should vote for politicians based on their in-practice commitment to individual rights.
Tags: Economics, Elections, Ethics, Politics, Voting
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Question 3: The Evidence for Free Will
Question: Is there objective evidence for free will? After doing some research on free will and determinism, the existence of free will seems pretty unlikely to me – even though the thought of free will is comforting. An argument often used to refute determinism is that the determinist says that we should accept determinism, since on his view, he only advocates determinism because he's determined. That seems unsatisfying, however, since that doesn't prove the existence of free will. Also, even if each person can say of himself, "I have free will," how do you determine whether others have free will? How would you know whether a toddler, a teenager, a person with a brain tumor, or a person with dementia has free will or not?
Answer, In Brief: Free will is an inescapable fact about our experience, and claims of determinism are incoherent.
Tags: Free Will, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Science
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Question 4: The Morality of Armed Rebellion
Question: When is a person (or group) justified in taking up arms against the government? In other words, how despotic must a government be for violent revolution to be morally justified? Before that point, is a person just engaged in "terrorism"?
Answer, In Brief: Armed rebellion would be immoral and impractical at present, given that peaceful political change is still possible.
Tags: Ethics, Law, Politics, Statism, War
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Conclusion (1:03:45)
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About Philosophy in Action
I'm Dr. Diana Brickell. I'm a philosopher specializing in the application of rational principles to the challenges of real life. I received my Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009. My book, Responsibility & Luck: A Defense of Praise and Blame, is available for purchase in paperback and Kindle. The book defends the justice of moral praise and blame of persons using an Aristotelian theory of moral responsibility, thereby refuting Thomas Nagel's "problem of moral luck."
My radio show, Philosophy in Action Radio, broadcasts live over the internet on most Sunday mornings and some Thursday evenings. On Sunday mornings, I answer questions applying rational principles to the challenges of real life in a live hour-long show. Greg Perkins of Objectivist Answers co-hosts the show. On Thursday evenings, I interview an expert guest or discuss a topic of interest.
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