Philosophy

The Tragedy of Costs and Benefits

In the fight against COVID-19, weighing costs and benefits is indispensable for moral clarity. At the same time, we must not forget its limits.

Good Science Is Good Science

For the sake of both science and action in the COVID-19 pandemic, we need collaboration among specialists, not sects.

Models v. Evidence

COVID-19 has revealed a contest between two competing philosophies of scientific knowledge. To manage the crisis, we must draw on both.

Hydroxychloroquine and the Political Polarization of Science

How a drug became an object lesson in political tribalism.

Ethics at a Distance

We may feel individually powerless to contribute to social transformation. But each of us bears responsibility for helping to create a more just world.

Against Moral Purity

Vengeful anger is not a morally correct response to wrongdoing.

What’s Past Is Prologue

Anger reclaims our agency—though at a price.

Accountability Without Vengeance

Is revenge always the only way, or the best?

How Anger Goes Wrong

Callard’s embrace of this embattled emotion may go too far.

More Important Things

We should ask questions that address the causes of anger instead of symptoms.

The Social Life of Anger

Callard raises fascinating psychological questions.

Anger and the Politics of the Oppressed

Callard offers a narrow view of the moral life of the oppressed.

The Kingdom of Damage

Callard shows that forgiveness is unfair and painful. But it is also good.

Choosing Violence

Callard’s claim about the rationality of anger is puzzling.

Angry Forever

There are two problems with anger: it is morally corrupting, and it is completely correct. 

How Science Shapes Policy in the COVID-19 Crisis

Pandemic response is not a simple matter of listening to the science, as scientists themselves disagree. In this ongoing series, leading researchers debate how to transform knowledge into action.

Dying in Jerusalem

The city is running out of graves, and against the backdrop of the Israel–Palestine conflict, burial is often a political matter.

The Robots Are Coming

Rumors of thinking robots are greatly exaggerated. Still, we cannot leave decisions about even lesser AI in the hands of those who stand to profit from its use.

The Weakness of the Furies

Victim anger can be useful to political struggle, but it can also become excessive and obsessive, deforming the self.

Science Hasn’t Refuted Free Will

A growing chorus says that science has shown free will to be an illusion. But it actually has offered arguments in its favor.

The Radical Equality of Lives

Judith Butler talks with Brandon M. Terry about MLK, the grievability of black lives, and how to defend nonviolence today. 

From the Editors: On Anger

Our new issue explores anger in its many forms—public and private, personal and political—raising an issue that we must grapple with: Does the vast well of public anger compromise us all?

New Issue: On Anger

Our winter 2020 issue has gone to press, featuring Agnes Callard, Paul Bloom, Elizabeth Bruenig, Judith Butler, Martha Nussbaum and more. Preorder now.

What Is Medicine For?

In place of the hype over personalized medicine, we need a more sober evaluation of the meaning of health and health care.

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