Contemporary Society & Philosophy

Higher social status is correlated with lower ethical behavior

February 29, 2012
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It may be true that cheats don’t prosper, but it seems equally true that those who are prosperous cheat. And this is not just an impression: there is now scientific evidence to back it up. The Los Angeles Times has a very interesting article on recent researching demonstrating that people with a high social status are less ethical than others in their daily behavior. According to the article,  People driving expensive cars were more likely than other motorists to cut off drivers and pedestrians at a four-way-stop intersection in the San Francisco Bay Area, UC Berkeley researchers observed. Those findings led to…

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The future of meat

February 28, 2012
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Over at Gizmodo there is a brief article entitled “The Future of Farming is Brain-Dead Chickens?” about a provocative art project created by an architecture student at the Royal College of Art. The project is described as follows: Architecture student André Ford has presented a very radical solution to increase the efficiency and humaneness in raising poultry. Under his plan, birds would have their frontal cortexes surgically severed, rendering the animals permanently unconscious with no zero sensory input while maintaining their lower brain functions—breathing and such—so that they continue to grow. The form and function of a chicken plant would change…

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How doctors die (by Ken Murray)

February 27, 2012
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Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient’s five-year-survival odds—from 5 percent to 15 percent—albeit with a poor quality of life. Charlie was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as…

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The business of appearances

February 21, 2012
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A few years ago, one of the English-language newspapers papers in South Korea ran a special report (i.e. advertisement) on a thriving new business that rents out “friends” by the hour. According to the article, customers rent these “friends,” not for sex, or even for friendship, but rather for the appearance that one actually has friends. Weddings were the most common occasion: brides and grooms with no friends apparently pay handsomely for appearances to the contrary. It’s a sad business, or perhaps it’s a reflection of a sad society. In comparison with this, old fashion prostitution–the sex trade–somehow seems romantic,…

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Religious lunatics

February 11, 2012
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Here’s some more evidence of just how harmful religious faith can be–and of the idiotic and irresponsible lengths to which some Christians will go in search of divine intervention or a message from God. From the Korea Times: A tragedy occurred in South Jeolla Province (South Korea ), when a pastor and his wife beat three of their children, who had the flu, to death under the pretext of “expelling evil spirits” based on the Bible. They were arrested by police following a tipoff from a relative, while praying and fasting in an alleged attempt to revive the three. The…

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Universities caught cheating

February 2, 2012
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As this New York Times article makes clear, when universities are forced to compete for money and honors–exactly what their students are forced to compete for–they do exactly what they teach students never to do, namely, cheat. To climb the U.S. News & World Report rankings, universities have been caught twisting the meanings of rules, cherry-picking data or just lying. The most recent example involves Claremont McKenna, which apparently is “the highest-ranking school to have to go through this publicly and have to admit to misreporting.” It is becoming increasingly difficult for universities to provide any moral guidance for students when they…

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Video: Earthlings

February 1, 2012
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Earthlings is considered by many to be the best animal rights film ever made. The website for the film contains quotes of praise from a number of animal rights activists, including the god-father of the movement, Peter Singer, who has apparently said “If I could make everyone in the world see one film, I’d make them see Earthlings.” The film can be viewed on-line for free here.

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