Links of Interest

The following Philosophers Zone link has two interviews that may be of interest:

"Converging on happiness" discusses some Aristotle.

"What is Morality? " interviews Stan Van Hooft on his book on Virtue Ethics

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/index/subjects_Books_2006.htm


The following article is by an Economics academic, "Time Inconsistency, Self-Control and Remembrance". (lots of formulae!)

http://www.gordon.edu/ace/pdf/Green-F&E42.pdf

Weber: "Unrestrained" capitalism?

In view of the election of a Labor leader who's been abusing "unrestrained capitalism", this remark from the intro to Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is interesting:
"Unlimited greed for gain is not in the least identical with capitalism, and still less its spirit. Capitalism may even by identical with the restraint, or at least a rational tempering, of this irrational impulse".

Violent video games

A new imaging study of the adolescent brain allegedly shows that violent video games "stir up the brain's emotional-response center while reducing activity in regions linked to self-control".

School Principal and Pornography: 'Moral' or 'Lifestyle' Issue?

I thought this story was an interesting one from our perspective. A primary school principal was found with 'adult' pornography on his work computer. Parents were very divided over whether this was grounds for dismissal. He was initially allowed to keep his job, but then a couple of days later (which, it's worth noting, included further inspection of the computer concerned), decided to resign.

http://subs.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=283&objectid=10398390
http://subs.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=283&objectid=10399165

I'm interested in this because according to the liberal perspective which it is increasingly taboo to challenge in popular culture, there should be no problem with what a school principal views in private, as long as it does not affect the quality of his work (and in this case he seems in fact to have been an exceptionally high achiever).

Yet it seems this is not what where people's true moral intuitions lie in cases such as this...?

NZ Drinking Age Legislation Again

Another attempt was made to raise to 20 the age at which New Zealanders can buy alcohol from bottle shops (although it allowed for 18-20 y.o.s to buy and consume drinks on licensed premises). One of the bill's aims was to stop the current widespread practice of 18 y.o.s buying large quantities of alcohol for 14 & 15 y.o. friends. When the legal age for buying alcohol was 20, it was argued, the 'trickle-down' got to 17 & 18 y.o.s and thus was not so bad. There were howls of protest from 18 y.o.s about their rights, with little thought given to the argument that they might have forfeited those rights by buying alcohol for 14 & 15 y.o.s when the drinking age was lowered and they were in effect trusted to behave responsibly.

The bill was defeated. Reading between the lines it seems there was much backroom manoeuvring going on:

Story here.

Learning Self-Control: The Marshmallow Studies

From the transcript of the latest Philosophers Zone:

Neil Levy: "There's a wonderful set of studies showing how children gradually learn self-control, the so-called Marshmallow Studies, after the reward that was given to children. Children are asked just to delay gratification in these studies. They were told, 'You can have one marshmallow now, or two marshmallows if you wait. You can have one marshmallow whenever you like. If you wait long enough, I'll give you two.' Very young children can't wait; within a few seconds, they're eating the first marshmallow. The older the child gets, the longer it can wait, and the length of waiting, the ability to defer gratification, is a very good predictor of a whole range of other achievements later in life. So for instance, it's a very good predictor - much better than IQ I believe, predictor of academic success. The child is learning how to delay its gratification to make itself a single being able to pursue goals which are maximally beneficial to itself, or which it perceives as maximally beneficial to itself, and it does that by learning a set of techniques which distract the self, distract the parts that want immediate gratification, which squelch them, which weaken their power. And I think these are the kinds of mechanisms that unify the self."