March 25, 2011
In Defense of Idealism
A Dialogue: Philosopher: “A perfectly just society would look like X.” Economist: “That’s unrealistic. In real life, people would respond badly to the incentives produced in X.” Philosopher: “Sure, but…
Author: Jason Brennan
March 24, 2011
Is There a Duty to Vote?: Instrumental Arguments
Most people assume there is a duty to vote. Philosophers generally agree. (In fact, there’s even some evidence that they rate voting more morally good than donating to charity…
March 23, 2011
The “Americans Would Fail the Citizenship Exam” Parlor Trick
Almost weekly, someone does the following trick: Find a bunch of natural-born American citizens. Get them to take the US Citizenship Exam. Snicker while they fail. Write an article about…
March 21, 2011
How Could There Even Be an Ethics of Voting?
(Following up on my previous post.) Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered the book! I'm looking forward to having some vigorous conversations and hearty debates with you. In this post, I just want to…
March 21, 2011
Pre-Order Special: The Ethics of Voting
The Ethics of Voting will be out in two weeks, on April 4th. [EDIT: Looks like copies are available now. Amazon has a temporary backorder, but Barnes and Noble has…
March 18, 2011
Are No-Fly Zones Symbolic Politics at Work?
Will Wilkinson claims they are: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/03/war_theatre Excerpt: So what is the attraction to no-fly zones? I’m afraid it is that no-fly zones are a theatrical way of taking a stand on the…