Marginal Cases and Early Term Fetuses

The marginal cases argument (MCA) has been used very effectively in defense of the direct moral standing of sentient non-humans. Any being that has direct moral standing is such that our treatment of them matters directly, independently of how it affects others. Direct moral standing […] Read More

The is-ought gap

In another thread, A.N. Prior’s attempted refutation of the is/ought gap came up. Here’s one of Prior’s examples: a. Tea-drinking is common in England.b. Therefore, tea-drinking is common in England, or all New Zealanders ought to be shot. (a) entails (b), (a) is descriptive, and […] Read More

Practical Reason Conference

There will be a conference on practical reason in Bowling Green April 7-9. Featured speakers are: Michael Bratman, Stephen Darwall, James Dreier, Elijah Millgram, Peter Railton, Joseph Raz, Michael Smith, and Gary Watson. For details check here: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/phil/reasonconf/schedule.htm

Welcome Robert N. Johnson!

Robert N. Johnson has kindly accepted our invitation to become the latest contributor to PEA Soup. Robert is an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri. He has for sometime been a regular commentator here at PEA Soup. And we’re very glad to have him […] Read More

Have another PEAR!

I really liked BEARS, though it seems to be extinct now.  Uriah and Josh contributed a few juicy PEARs some weeks ago.  I like this idea and think we should do more Pea-Soup Electronic Article Reviews. William Alston’s essay, "Moral Attitudes and Moral Judgments" (Nous […] Read More