Tagarchief: rational ethics
Rational altruism and risk aversion
Let’s start with a very hypothetical but tricky dilemma. The importance of this dilemma will become clear at the end. Suppose I give you a choice between two options. If you choose option A, I will save one person. If … Lees verder
Discrimination biases
Unwanted arbitrariness is the most important threat for a rational ethic. An important category of unwanted arbitrariness, is discrimination, with the three most known and important examples: sexism, racism and speciesism. Discrimination is fundamentally immoral and should be avoided. However, … Lees verder
Economics and ethics for a rational politics
People often ask me why I started a master’s study in policy economics after finishing two PhD’s in natural sciences and in moral philosophy. I think that economics, ethics and science are three important areas of research for a rational … Lees verder
Our worst enemies in crucial areas
What are the most important problems in the most important areas like ethics, economics, politics and sciences? In this short article I present an overview of our worst enemies. Ethics Several ethical principles and theories are possible, but what characterizes … Lees verder
Reflections on male privilege
Our biggest concern in ethics is unwanted arbitrariness. That is why I am against all kinds of discrimination (because the victims of discrimination cannot want their arbitrary exclusion). One form of discrimination is sexism. However, the discussion of sexism is … Lees verder
Rational democracy and futarchy
This article explains how rational democracy and futarchy, summarized as “voting on values, betting on beliefs”, is a promising solution to the central problem in politics and ethics: moral and empirical uncertainty. Rational ethics can be summarized with the slogan: … Lees verder
Why naturalness is irrational and harmful
In the environmental and natural health movements, people value naturalness. However, from a rational-philosophical perspective, this notion of naturalness doesn’t make much sense: it is arbitrary and not well-defined. Second, from an ethical perspective, preferring naturalness is often harmful: it … Lees verder
It’s time to take the Red Pill and change your mind
Are you afraid of changing your mind about a deeply held belief, about an emotionally strong conviction that you have? A few years ago, I changed – as an environmentalist – my mind about GMOs. Since then, and due to … Lees verder
The three most defensible principles in ethics
From eight to five to three: this article is the result of a long process of several years, searching for the most important or fundamental ethical principles, refining, simplifying and deleting principles until we end up with the three ethical … Lees verder
What is a rational ethicist?
Accuracy, effectiveness and consistency A rational ethicist lives by the slogan: accurate in beliefs, effective in means, consistent in ends. Our ends should be consistent in the sense that our moral values or ethical principles should not contain contradictions, vagueness … Lees verder
