Disembodied Studios
Disembodied… Never Disengaged
Disembodied... Never Disengaged!
Philosophy, Politics and Society, all in one place.
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Evolving Freedom: The Metaphysics of Free Will
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsThe history of philosophy, as far back as one would wish to take it, is littered with theories, critiques and counter-theories on the free will of human beings and its relation to a broader explanation of reality. Despite free will being one of the most thought about topics in philosophy, a consensus on its existence, its relation to laws of nature and more has yet to be reached. One of the greatest challenges of modern times is reconciling the experience that is free will with the science that is “laws of nature” and evolution. The goal here, then, is to reconcile both scientific “laws of nature”, which includes biological evolution, with free will and give an account of how free will arose out of the evolution of life. In order to accomplish this mission it will first be important to explore what exactly laws of nature really are. Once that is completed, the account of evolutionary free will, including new thoughts on evolution itself, will present a viable case for the free will of at least humanity, if not much more.
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Liberty versus Democracy: A Review of The Future of Freedom
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsPerhaps in the age of globalization where the domestic agriculture policies of the United States can totally alter the stock market of Thailand the answer to the question of how should governments respond to the eroding sovereignty isn’t to give more power back to the people but give more power to the elites. This is, at least in part, the argument of Fareed Zakaria in his addition to the globalization literature happily titled The Future of Freedom. In his examination of political systems throughout the world and in the United States he argues for a few main issues, some widely agreed upon and others quite controversial.
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Guiding Reason: An Exploration of Spinoza’s Political Philosophy
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsInfluenced by Thomas Hobbes, among many others, Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza offers an interesting twist on the social contract tradition while also containing much of what made Hobbes, Locke and even Rousseau so popular among political theorists. While he offers a similar path of rational growth, from the state of nature to the nature of the state by compact, he does so in a fashion wholly different from any of the social contract theorists. Instead of arguing for a juridical state, like Hobbes, and arguing for any form of legal philosophy, like Rousseau, Spinoza takes an approach which strives for maxims for actions based on empirical knowledge. (Geismann 48) By examining Spinoza’s notion of the state of nature, the extent of power for the sovereign and the ends of a commonwealth both clear similarities and key differences can be found that make Spinoza’s theory very unique while maintaining it in the tradition so popular during his time.
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Escaping International Anarchy: Reconceptualizing the Ethics of World Politics
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsThe creation of Presidential Decision Directive 25 by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and the continuance of the directive under George W. Bush has brought to bear a real conundrum for those interested in international relations, and particularly the ethics of international relations. This Directive, which aimed to reform US involvement in international peacekeeping by making involvement dependent upon there being “vital interests” at stake effectively allows the US to avoid intervening in humanitarian crises abroad. While it may not be the only initiative that takes a step away from an international ethic it may well be the pinnacle of the problem. (Burkhalter) It is because the world at large has almost completely forgotten its promise to not let grave atrocities like the Holocaust happen again that a formulation of international ethics is now so important. Absent a workable morality nation-states will continue to work under the guise solely of ‘national interest’ and be justified in doing so. Therefore, the aim here is to first examine the current state of international affairs from an ethical viewpoint, then establish a normative theory with the aim of providing a workable solution to the problems associated with the current system. Finally, it will be important to defend this new normative theory against alternative theories and against general opposition to ensure that it won’t fall victim to the international community’s egoism like previous theories seemingly have.