Category: Uncategorized

By: Satyam Sinha In this paper, I critically evaluate Immanuel Kant’s claim in the Groundwork of the  Metaphysics of Morals that moral actions must be done solely from duty. I argue that this  requirement creates an epistemic problem for a successful moral theory and propose an alternative  threshold for moral action. Regarding Kant’s goals, first,…

By: Brady Middlebrook Friedrich Nietzsche’s early writings visit frequently upon the thought of two titanic pre-Platonic philosophers, Heraclitus and Socrates. Nietzsche draws great inspiration and a wealth of philosophical material from both of these figures, but in quite opposite ways. Heraclitus’ opaque fragments serve as foundations for many concepts which Nietzsche builds upon through his…

By: Natalija Grubisic | October 6, 2025 In the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant argues that only actions performed from the motive of moral duty have true moral worth. However, he concedes that “it is absolutely impossible by means of experience to make out with complete certainty a single case in which…

By: Eli Michael Gaull Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud were two revolutionary thinkers concerned with morality, the relationship between society and the individual, the origin of bad conscience, and the role of religion. Both examined the forces which compel human behavior, and the implications society has on these forces; while both grappled with similar problems,…

By: Caleb Sammons | University of South Florida Albert Camus’s The Fall stands as one of the most philosophically conflicted works in the existentialist canon. Through Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a former Parisian lawyer turned self-proclaimed “judge-penitent,” Camus crafts a devastating critique of atheistic existentialism and its ethical implications. This novel represents both a philosophical critique of…

By: Mason Williams | West Virginia University | December 10, 2025 The latest integration of AI and mass data collection into domestic security and policing  represents an ethical problem for modern civil liberties. Supporters claim that data-driven  systems offer objective and efficient means of crime prevention. This paper argues the opposite.  Predictive policing and surveillance,…

By: Solomon Akaeze | Columbia University | February 1, 2026 Within his work, Lidal Dror, Epistemologist based at Princeton University, frequently explores the epistemic impact of oppression on the oppressed. Often considering this issue and the problems it raises from the context of race and gender, Dror’s work is situated firmly at an intersection of…

By: Jack Shaw  | February 1, 2026 In the 2006 film The Departed, there is a scene where Costello, played by Jack Nicholson, executes a man in the marshes. According to Matt Damon, the scene in the script, which was only about an eighth of the page in length, originally called for Costello to simply execute the man…

By: Connor Lewis (The University of Michigan) | May 7, 2025 Despite my inclinations toward democracy, I partially agree with Kant’s view in the “What is Enlightenment” essay that, at least temporarily, the greatest intellectual freedom comes in a state run by a benevolent despot. I understand intellectual freedom as distinct from political freedom in line…

By: Eunice Chon (Harvard University) | February 26, 2025 Economists are concerned about the chronic kidney shortage, and many support opening a market for organs (Mankiw). The projections look good; a reduction in costs for patients, previously waiting several years for a transplant and more kidneys available (Sumner, Mankiw). According to the principle of utility,…