“I wanted to know what it means to know something, whether we can know at all, and, if so, how.” IfsKnowsMeanWanted Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“I was conscripted to military service, and my gut feeling was to refuse to serve. I did not want to kill other people. This seemed to me wrong, if not in principle, so at least in practice.” PeopleIfsWantFeelingsPrinciplesPracticeMilitaryRefuseGutsGut FeelingsMilitary Service Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“It is true (independently of our conceptualisation) that it is wrong to inflict pain on a sentient creature for no reason (she doesn't deserve it, I haven't promised to do it, it is not helpful to this creature or to anyone else if I do it, and so forth). But if this is a truth, existing independently of our conceptualisation, then at least one moral fact (this one) exists and moral realism is true. We have to accept this, I submit, unless we can find strong reasons to think otherwise.” IfsThinkingReasonFactsPainStrongAcceptingMoralHavensCreaturesDeserveNo ReasonHelpfulSubmitRealism Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“We own ourselves. This is the core of a libertarian theory of rights. But on this theory, while we are at liberty to kill ourselves (regardless of the consequences of others), we are not allowed to kill others, not even if this means that there we be fewer murders in the future, totally speaking.” IfsMeanLibertyRightsTheoryConsequenceMurderLibertarianCoreFewer Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“Utilitarianism condones killing of innocent human beings, even murder, if it makes the world a better place.” IfsWorldHumansHuman BeingsMurderKillingInnocentBetter PlaceUtilitarianism Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“If two norms conflict, if they are mutually inconsistent, then at least one of them must be false.” IfsTwoConflictNormInconsistent Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“You are only allowed to treat the content of your intuition as evidence if the intuition stays after you have exposed it to cognitive psychotherapy; in some cases you have to reject it even if it does indeed stay.” IfsDoeCasesEvidenceTreatsIntuitionRejectsExposedCognitivePsychotherapy Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“It is of note that even if utilitarianism has proved to be superior to deontology and the libertarian moral rights theory in the area of killing, we are not allowed to say that it has been finally vindicated; it has to face other challenges in other areas, in particular in situations of distributive justice.” IfsHas BeensFacesChallengesJusticeSituationMoralRightsParticularTheoryAreasNotesKillingLibertarianSuperiorsUtilitarianismVindicated Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“We can be certain that, if there are conflicting views in different cultures, some of these views must be false. This may help us to transcend our own narrow cultural horizon.” IfsMayDifferentHelpingCertainCultureViewsHorizonDifferent Cultures Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“I have now come to the conclusion (roughly) that capital punishment is defensible, if it can be shown to have a deterrent effect on murder. In that case, a few executions save not only some people from being murdered but also some people from becoming murders.” PeopleIfsCasesEffectsBecomingMurderPunishmentConclusionExecutionCapital PunishmentDeterrent Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“It is hard to tell if capital punishment has such an effect. And even if, in some contexts it has (such as in the American South with a very high incidence of murder), this effect may very well go away if a decent welfare state was replaced for the existing social order.” IfsWellsMayHardStatesOrderSocialEffectsMurderSouthPunishmentWelfareDecentGoing AwayReplacedWelfare StateSocial OrderCapital PunishmentIncidence Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“There comes a time where next to everyone will resort to techniques that enhance cognitive, mental including emotive, physical, and other capacities. When this has happened, if not before, the ban on doping in sport will have been lifted.” IfsHas BeensNextSportsHappenedCapacityIncludingTechniqueResortsBansCognitiveThere Comes A TimeDoping Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“My conjecture is that most people will refuse to let go, even when their lives have become boring (at least in comparisons with possible lives lived by new generations). If this happens, there will eventually be no room for new generations. A kind of collective irrationality will lead to a bleak life for the last generation that decides to stay around. Unless we put and end to the human race (through global warming, for example), before this happens, individual egoism will block the path to a better world.” PeopleIfsWorldHumansKindEndsHappensLastsIndividualRoomsRacePathGenerationsExampleLetting GoRefuseBoringBlockHuman RaceGlobal WarmingCollectivesComparisonEgoismNew GenerationBleakIrrationalityConjecture Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
