Thank you for this post. Scanlon is truly original. He helps me rediscover ethics as a very exciting subject. His works also have both technical and substantive merits that will benefit students of ethics immensely should they have the patience to following his line of thinking carefully. I strongly recommend all his books.
I love what Scanlon said about insights in philosophy not as "a sudden flashes of ideas" but "careful attention the the problems that already exist". Insight is a combination of intelligence and hard work.
Thanks for putting in a good word for Scanlon. His moral reasoning class at Harvard is excellent. I don't know if he is a genius but he is rigorous and sensible.
Dandiacal & Amyalz -- There once was a group of monks who had taken a vow of silence. They were allowed to talk only one day per year. After the first 12 months, one monk said, "I love oatmeal." Another year passed and a second monk said, "I despise oatmeal." Another long year passed and the Head Monk said, "I'm sick of all this constant bickering about oatmeal." Good luck to you both! Ron P.S. Professor Scanlon is indeed a genius.
I've just covered Scanlon's ethics and I am pretty much convinced that he's cracked it. The only problem is a [Euthyphro] circular issue but I do personally not believe it to be too much of a problem!
@@jasonzheng976 To resurrect a dead thread he has a weird account of what it means for something to be valuable, basically what it is for something to be valuable is have certain natural properties which give us reason to take a positive attitude towards it. For example we might value chocolate because its tastiness means we have reason to desire it.
Thank you for this post. Scanlon is truly original. He helps me rediscover ethics as a very exciting subject. His works also have both technical and substantive merits that will benefit students of ethics immensely should they have the patience to following his line of thinking carefully. I strongly recommend all his books.
I love what Scanlon said about insights in philosophy not as "a sudden flashes of ideas" but "careful attention the the problems that already exist". Insight is a combination of intelligence and hard work.
I can't believe there aren't any or more comments. This man interviewed is one of our major philosophers.
m hampton 8 years later I'm wondering the same thing
"I tend to just want to go in and think about it myself" - T.M. Scanlon @ 12:56 - could be that many people feel as Scanlon does....
Thanks for putting in a good word for Scanlon. His moral reasoning class at Harvard is excellent. I don't know if he is a genius but he is rigorous and sensible.
Dandiacal & Amyalz -- There once was a group of monks who had taken a vow of silence. They were allowed to talk only one day per year. After the first 12 months, one monk said, "I love oatmeal."
Another year passed and a second monk said, "I despise oatmeal." Another long year passed and the Head Monk said, "I'm sick of all this constant bickering about oatmeal." Good luck to you both! Ron P.S. Professor Scanlon is indeed a genius.
Good luck on your midterm guys
I've just covered Scanlon's ethics and I am pretty much convinced that he's cracked it. The only problem is a [Euthyphro] circular issue but I do personally not believe it to be too much of a problem!
Why Euthyphro circular is a problem for his philosophy?
@@jasonzheng976 To resurrect a dead thread he has a weird account of what it means for something to be valuable, basically what it is for something to be valuable is have certain natural properties which give us reason to take a positive attitude towards it. For example we might value chocolate because its tastiness means we have reason to desire it.