Philip Zimbardo Interview

Believer Magazine has a very interesting interview with Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist behind the Stanford prison experiment. There’s a lot of great stuff, but I particularly liked Zimbardo’s emphasis of the inertia of institutions: Yes, even there, you know, what comes out of that is the guilt or innocence of each of the leaders. So [...]

Moral Monopolies of Church and State

Benito Arruñada has a fascinating post at Organizations and Markets: Moral codes can be produced and enforced through markets or through organizations. In particular, Catholic theology can be interpreted as a paradigm of the organizational production of morality. In contrast, the dominant moral codes are now produced in something resembling more a market. The organizational [...]

Moral Argument and Political Force

I agree heartily with this from Wendy McElroy: One danger of arguing for or against a position is that everyone thinks you are saying, “there ought to be a law.” Take the issue of discrimination on the basis of sex or gender as an example. If you argue against it, people assume you want to [...]

The Morality of Drunk and Drowsy Driving

Driving while sleep deprived can be as dangerous as driving while drunk. Why are drunk drivers treated like the devil incarnate while drowsy drivers barely raise an eyebrow? There is a reasonable case for having drunk driving illegal and ignoring drowsy driving: since the former is much easier to objectively measure, the cost of enforcement [...]

How Sincere are Anti-abortionists?

I find this video [hat tip: Francois Tremblay] confusing. Anti-abortion protestors are asked whether abortion should be illegal, and answer in the affirmative. When asked what the punishment should be, however, most say they haven’t thought about it and will not endorse time in prison, or any punishment at all.  In addition to having a [...]