Tag: #ethics

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• The 38 Were Never There — The Myth of the Bystander Effect and the Real Experiment

  The 1964 New York Times article reporting that 38 neighbors merely watched while Kitty Genovese was murdered gave birth to the concept of the bystander effect. Then a 2007 review in American Psychologist established that

  2026-07-26 · 12 min read #psychology#paper-review#social-psychology#ethics#communication

• What Is Justice — Rawls and Nozick ♪ Listenable

  If you had to design a society from behind a veil of ignorance, which principles would you choose? John Rawls and Robert Nozick gave opposite answers about justice. Following the old tension between equality and liberty,

  2026-06-21 · 61 min read #justice#philosophy#rawls#nozick#ethics

• The Trolley Problem — Would You Sacrifice One to Save Five?

  A runaway trolley is hurtling toward five people, and your hand rests on a lever. This deceptively simple scenario pulls open the deepest debates in moral philosophy. We trace its many variations, the neuroscience of mor

  2026-06-21 · 11 min read #culture#philosophy#ethics#thought-experiment#utilitarianism

• Our Obligations to Future Generations — To Those Not Yet Born ♪ Listenable

  What do we owe to people who do not yet exist? A balanced look at Parfit non-identity problem, climate and debt, the discount-rate debate, and intergenerational justice, from several competing perspectives.

  2026-06-21 · 32 min read #ethics#future-generations#philosophy#climate#justice

• Is Lying Always Wrong — Kant and the White Lie ♪ Listenable

  Is lying always forbidden, or sometimes permitted? Following Kant absolutism, the consequentialist reply, the white lie, the economics of trust, and cultural differences, we meet thought experiments that unsettle our int

  2026-06-21 · 32 min read #ethics#kant#philosophy#morality#honesty

• Can a War Ever Be Just? A History of Just War Theory ♪ Listenable

  Is there any room for ethics in war? From Augustine to modern international law, we trace two thousand years of debate over the just war, weighing the perspectives of just war theory, pacifism, and realism with care.

  2026-06-21 · 54 min read #ethics#just-war#philosophy#history#international-law

• Does Free Will Exist Between Determinism and Compatibilism ♪ Listenable

  A balanced tour of three positions on free will, namely determinism, compatibilism, and libertarian free will, alongside the Libet readiness potential experiment and its critiques, the problem of moral responsibility, an

  2026-06-21 · 46 min read #philosophy#free-will#determinism#neuroscience#ethics

• Is the Redistribution of Wealth Just? ♪ Listenable

  Is dividing wealth through taxes justice, or plunder? Taking Nozick libertarianism and Rawlsian egalitarianism as two wings, we work through the philosophical debate over property rights and distributive justice without

  2026-06-21 · 57 min read #ethics#justice#philosophy#wealth#rawls

• The Many Faces of Fairness — What Does It Mean to Be Fair ♪ Listenable

  Is it fairer to split a cake into equal pieces, or to give more to the hungrier person? This essay follows the five faces of fairness — equality, equity, need, procedure, and opportunity — through thought experiments and

  2026-06-21 · 33 min read #fairness#justice#ethics#philosophy#meritocracy

• The Ethics of Whistleblowing — Between Loyalty and Conscience ♪ Listenable

  When loyalty to an organization collides with conscience toward the public good, what should we follow? We examine the conditions that justify whistleblowing, the problem of motive, and the reality of protection and reta

  2026-06-21 · 46 min read #ethics#whistleblowing#philosophy#loyalty#conscience

• Digital Privacy — Between Surveillance and Convenience ♪ Listenable

  Every day we enjoy free services in exchange for our data. Weighing surveillance capitalism against government surveillance, and privacy-preserving technology against regulation, we explore the ancient tension between co

  2026-06-21 · 26 min read #privacy#surveillance#data-economy#gdpr#ethics

• Anonymity and Online Behavior — Us Behind the Mask ♪ Listenable

  Put on a mask and a person changes. From the online disinhibition effect to the light and shadow of anonymity, the real-name debate, and platform design, we look at us behind the mask, in balance.

  2026-06-21 · 28 min read #anonymity#online-behavior#psychology#internet#digital-citizenship

• The Euthanasia Debate — The Right to Die and the Dignity of Life ♪ Listenable

  Does a person have the right to choose death, or is life a value to be protected to the end? We follow the clash of autonomy and the sanctity of life, the distinctions among passive, active, and assisted forms, palliativ

  2026-06-21 · 38 min read #euthanasia#ethics#bioethics#autonomy#palliative-care

• The Ethics of Forgiveness — Is Forgiving a Duty or a Choice ♪ Listenable

  What is forgiveness, and how does it differ from reconciliation? A careful look at whether some things are unforgivable, whether justice and forgiveness collide, and what forgiveness does to the mind, from several perspe

  2026-06-21 · 25 min read #ethics#forgiveness#philosophy#psychology#reconciliation

• The Ethics of AI — Can We Teach Machines to Be Moral ♪ Listenable

  From the trolley problem of self-driving cars to algorithmic bias, the responsibility gap, and autonomous weapons. A fair look at what it really means to teach a machine to be moral, and the competing answers people give

  2026-06-21 · 33 min read #ethics#ai-ethics#philosophy#technology#society

• Animal Rights — What Do We Owe to Animals ♪ Listenable

  Are animals objects of moral concern, and if so, how far does it extend? We follow Singer critique of speciesism, Regan rights view, the reality of factory farming, the debates over experimentation, companion animals, an

  2026-06-21 · 39 min read #animal-rights#ethics#peter-singer#philosophy#speciesism

• The Hands That Build Surveillance — Developer Ethics and Privacy Engineering ♪ Listenable

  From the Larry Ellison remark about constant recording, to the walking tour of surveillance infrastructure in Seattle, to mandatory age verification — the 2026 surveillance debate ultimately plays out in the hands of the

  2026-06-12 · 21 min read #privacy#ethics#surveillance#engineering#culture

• The Complete Philosophy Guide for Engineers: Epistemology, Ethics, Free Will, Stoicism, Buddhism, Popper, Pragmatism, and Tech Ethics (2025~2026)

  A systematic philosophy guide for the questions of "why, right, and true" that an engineer faces for a lifetime. The basics of epistemology (from Plato to Popper), the three great traditions of ethics (utilitarian, deont

  2026-04-15 · 14 min read #philosophy#epistemology#ethics#free-will#stoic