David Luban's answer: The “Problem of the Grudge Informer” is a jurisprudential puzzle arising from a post-World War II case in Germany. During the war, a soldier who was home on leave made critical...

David Luban's answer: Perhaps the questioner has in mind a familiar argument about logical positivism’s “Verification Principle”, which holds that only statements that are in principle empirically...

How Hannah Arendt’s fans misread the post-truth presidency

David Luban's answer: “How to Philosophize with a Hammer” is the subtitle to Nietzsche’s book Twilight of the Idols. Knowing that makes it pretty clear what he means: he plans to use his argumentat...

David Luban's answer: Chomsky was interested in politics first, from a very early age. In an interview he once said that he became an anarchist by age 12. As for philosophy: he did study philosophy...

David Luban's answer: Not everyone would rate Wittgenstein as the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. Many might give that honor to Heidegger. Others would resist the invitation to rank-order...

David Luban's answer: The revival of virtue ethics by philosophers comes from the sense (backed by some sophisticated arguments) that modern moral theories that focus on rights, duties, and consequ...

David Luban's answer: Philosophy’s job has never been to merely interpret physics, and it never will be. Philosophy includes ethics, aesthetics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law,...

David Luban's answer: Aristotle writes about the dangerous currents in the Straits of Messina it in the treatise “Physical Problems,” chapter 23. The problem is that scholars don’t know whether these...

David Luban's answer: No, but he isn’t a “physicalist” either, because his psychology is not built on a dualism of mind and body that must be overcome. Here I quote from Charles Kahn’s excellent...

An iconic artist at an iconic location. This concert film captures several mesmerizing live performances from the renowned German composer and producer Nils Frahm at the legendary Funkhaus Berlin....

David Luban's answer: This answer is not really contemporary, but it’s good. Wilfrid Sellars, in his essay “Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man”, writes: > “The aim of philosophy, abstractly...

The Trump administration has declared war on the International Criminal Court—the world’s only permanent court whose mandate is to pursue cases of

David Luban's answer: Interesting question! So far as I know, neither Bentham nor Aristotle have “care” and “caring” as part of their moral vocabulary. But here is a quick thought about each: For...

David Luban's answer: The wonderful philosopher J. N. Findlay once wrote a book called Ascent to the Absolute about necessary existence, and dedicated it to his wife who, “though not a necessary...

David Luban's answer: I’ll answer in one word, and then explain. The word is “disgust.” The Übermensch is constantly tempted to complete disgust with human beings. Nietzsche is one of the easiest...

David Luban's answer: Is the “cogito, ergo sum” logically sound? That’s a debated and unexpectedly hard question. “I think, therefore I am” sounds like Descartes intended a logical inference. But, as...