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Using what he calls the impairment principle, Hendricks argues that abortion is immoral. He claims that if knowingly giving a fetus fetal alcohol syndrome is immoral then having an abortion is immoral. He grants for the sake of argument that the fetus is not a person, and thus avoids the controversial and problematic discussions regarding personhood. By Dr. Gordon Pettit; subscribe @gordonpetti...

An overview of the major U.S. Supreme Court decisions related to abortion from Roe v. Wade (1973) through the Dobbs decision of 2022, and more recent state abortion laws that include some that are very restrictive and others that are very permissive. By Dr. Gordon Pettit; subscribe @gordonpettit; see more at gordonpettit.org

I explain what temporary intrinsic properties are and what philosophical problems arise from them. I VERY briefly consider two resolutions to the problems and potential challenges to those resolutions. By Dr. Gordon Pettit; subscribe @gordonpettit; see more at gordonpettit.org

PHIL 100 Overview of Syllabus and Westernonline site

Lewis discusses Christian behavior and morality in Book 3. He begins by clarifying three unique aspects of morality: how we treat one another, what is going on inside us, and the general purpose of humanity. Christian morality addresses all three aspects. There is broad agreement on the first aspect, but significant disagreement on the other two and whether they are even important for morality....

Peter van Inwagen addresses the question of why there is a universe that can support rational beings like us. In Part Two, I address three more objections to the conclusion that God created the universe intentionally so that beings like us could exist in it. Van Inwagen concedes that the argument is not convincing, but qualifies that concession in important ways. Note: There is a reference to N...

Peter van Inwagen addresses the question of why there is a universe that can support rational beings like us. He provides a principle that demonstrates a need for the explanation and proposes the response that God created the universe intentionally so that beings like us could exist in it. The overall argument is a contemporary design argument. For more background on the physics and probabiliti...

Swinburne rejects Parfit's Axiarchic principle as a reason for the existence of the universe as we know it. Instead he uses Bayesian Reasoning to argue that it is more plausible to conclude that God created the universe intentionally. By Dr. Gordon Pettit; subscribe @gordonpettit; see more at gordonpettit.org

Parfit addresses the question of why anything exists at all, as well as the question of why there is a universe like ours. He considers and rejects the many universes hypothesis and the idea that God created our universe. He then responds that there is an axiarchic principle - an impersonal principle of value that explains our universe. By Dr. Gordon Pettit; subscribe @gordonpettit; see more at...

The topic is free will and moral responsibility. I describe my response to Frankfurt Style Examples (FSEs) as developed in "Moral Responsibility and the Ability to Do Otherwise" (2005). I argue that if we are careful in distinguishing events by causal origins, then we see that FSEs fail to show that one may be morally responsible for x, yet have no alternatives to x. I argue that all versions o...

I present a thesis on the conditions of moral responsibility, but without defending the thesis as a whole, I address challenges to the idea that having genuine alternatives for action is necessary for being morally responsible. I address the genesis and evolution of Frankfurt Style Examples (FSEs) that purport to show that having an ability to do otherwise is not necessary for moral responsibil...

I follow the summaries of John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza with their overview of accounts of moral responsibility. A driving concern is whether one has to have alternatives in order to be held morally responsible and if the principle of alternative possibilities is true. I give very brief overviews of accounts by Fischer and Ravizza, Harry Frankfurt, Eleonore Stump, Susan Wolf, Peter Straw...

Hobart defends the view that free will and determinism are compatible, and in addition freedom actually requires determinism. He provides a few classic arguments for his view, including one that asserts that having a power to do something implies determinism. He also argues that responsibility requires determinism. I close with a few brief criticisms that are developed more thoroughly in other ...

Swinburne addresses the question "A person P2 at time t2 is the same person as P1 at t1 if and only if ?" He argues that this is often confused with a different question regarding evidence. He rejects empirical theories such as Shoemaker's and Parfit's, and argues for substance dualism. By Dr. Gordon Pettit; subscribe @gordonpettit; see more at gordonpettit.org

Derek Parfit on Personal Identity - What are Persons? Bundles of Experiences.

Sydney Shoemaker on Personal Identity Part 2: Defending the Consciousness Theory of Locke

Sydney Shoemaker on Personal Identity Part 1: Defending the Consciousness Theory of Locke

Roderick Chisholm on Personal Identity - A person is a Tiny Particle!

Peter van Inwagen on What Rational Beings are there?

Dean Zimmerman on Temporary Intrinsics and Presentism Part 2

Dean Zimmerman on Temporary Intrinsics and Presentism Part 1

How Do Things Persist through Change? Roderick Chisholm on Persistence Through Time

Metaphysics: A Starting Point - "The Common Western Metaphysic"

David Lewis on Person Stages - Temporal Parts of Persons & Persistence through Change

Persistence through Change: David Lewis on Temporary Intrinsic Properties

Peter van Inwagen's Metaphysics: Externality and Idealism Part 2

Peter van Inwagen's Metaphysics: Externality and Idealism Part 1

Peter van Inwagen's Metaphysics: Individuality Part 2 - Monism

Peter van Inwagen's Metaphysics: Individuality Part 1 - Introduction and Nihilism