Gay Marriage Index

Last updated on: August 24, 2012 at 5:01 pm By Leah Libresco

In August 2010, in the wake of Judge Walker’s decision to strike down California’s Proposition 8 in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, I ran a series of posts on gay marriage. Why Should Atheists Get Married? – Should the state only administer civil unions? And why would atheists ever value marriage anyway? Restricting Rhetoric, Mosques, and Gays – What kind of religious arguments should be allowed in public discourse? Natural Moral Theory is Bunk – Why I don’t buy the Catholic... Read more

Why should atheists get married?

Last updated on: August 9, 2010 at 12:10 pm By Leah Libresco

Thanks to everyone who’s been commenting on my series on Math and Morality. I’ll be returning to some of the outstanding questions soon (especially those posed by Dylan and Hendy), but I’m finishing work and moving out of DC this week, so I’m focusing this week more on politics than philosophy. Don’t forget, if you’d like to respond to a Monday Call to Arms in longer form as a guest blogger, please email me at leah (dot) libresco (at) yale... Read more

One last look at sight

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 9:29 pm By Leah Libresco

This post is part of a series on morality and mathematics. If you’re not into timeless conceptions of physics, you should probably check out the other posts first. I’m swear at some point I’m going to finish up with the sight metaphor and get back to some of the posts I had planned, but in the comments of one of yesterday’s posts, Hendy brought up one idea I really want to address. Hendy said: Essentially, we seem to have honed... Read more

Empirics, Morality, and Rational Ignorance

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 9:25 pm By Leah Libresco

Time for another go round of responses to comments on the last two posts in my current series on math and morality: Hendy wrote: So turn this to morality. What if smoking pot was permissible starting tomorrow. A large number of people would now take part in it while many others would consider to hold it wrong. Are their internal sensors faulty? Repeat this with abortion, nation-wide permissibility of gay marriage, etc. Some would immediately partake and others would still... Read more

Optimized and Arbitrary (part 2)

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 9:19 pm By Leah Libresco

This post is part of a series on math and morality. You can see all previous posts in this sequence at the index Looks like it’s time for a clarification for yesterday’s post. I think David B. is oversimplifying when he says: If a lot of offspring get genes for cooperation and together they are hard-wired build an equilibrium better for all (i.e. what morality does), that would in fact out compete another population without those genes. I think it’s... Read more

7 Quick Takes (8/5/10)

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 9:16 pm By Leah Libresco

–1– This week, I’ve been doing a special series of posts on math and morality. A large number of my disagreements with my Catholic boyfriend can be boiled down to the fact that he thinks absolute morality is untenable without God. I’ve been posting about my epistemology and experiential claims in an attempt to explain why he’s wrong. You can check out an index of the series here. –2– I wish there’d been a little more attention to math at First Things... Read more

Math and Morality Index

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 9:13 pm By Leah Libresco

In August of 2010, I wrote a series of posts on the relationship between math and morality. “From Dreams I Proceed to Facts” — an introduction to my views on math and metaphysics by way of Flatland Hail to the Cylinder God — being able to make negative definitions of God is essential As sure as I am of anything — how does evidence for morality compare to evidence for causality, or the reality of sight Tangled Up in Blue —... Read more

Optimized and Arbitrary

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 9:19 pm By Leah Libresco

This is one of a series of posts about math and morality. I’ll be getting back to the series soon, but I’m currently pausing to answer some of the questions that have been accumulating. In comments on “On What Evidence?” Crowhill and Charles got into a disagreement about human morality and evolution that I exerpt below. Crowhill: Does there have to be some sort of “objective morality” for a dog to know how he’s supposed to behave towards other dogs?... Read more

On what evidence?

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 9:01 pm By Leah Libresco

This post is part of a series of responses to the comments on my ongoing series on math and morality. You can check out previous posts in this series here. So having spent one post answering questions using my sight metaphor, I’m going to move away from it in this round of answers. (Remember, as George Box said, “Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful.”). Eitan said: [M]orality is clearly quite different than EVERYTHING else we know. If... Read more

Tangled up in Blue

Last updated on: April 10, 2012 at 8:58 pm By Leah Libresco

Thanks so much for all the comments and challenges to yesterday’s post in the Math and Morality series. Rather than reply in the comment thread, I’ll be putting up response posts throughout the day. Please comment to clarify or bring up something I neglected! I’m glad Anonymous linked to Steven Pinker’s NYT article on ”The Moral Instinct” and that J.C. linked to the article on how descriptions of color vary across cultures. Hopefully pairing these two can help me... Read more