Against the New Taboo

The United States of America murdered an innocent man. But this is not the main reason we should be against capital punishment. Carlos DeLuna was put to death in 1989 for a murder in Corpus Christi, Texas. The victim, Wanda Lopez, was stabbed once through her left breast with a lock-blade buck ... Read More

As we’ve noted, there are very few and very restricted reasons to prevent a rational person from harming herself. After all, we’ve come to accept adults drinking, smoking, and mountain-climbing and do nothing politically to prevent such actions completely (each, though individually allowed, come ... Read More

If we have access to the same facts and evidence, we ought to reach the same conclusions about any topic. What does it mean when we don’t? We’ve all encountered situations where we believe we are right and someone else wrong. Indeed, by our very nature, we hold beliefs that we think are true ... Read More

A South African model, Jessica Leandra, took to Twitter recently, expressing her anger at being accosted by a man in a store. She said: “Just, well took on a an arrogant and disrespectful kaffir inside [the store]. Should have punched him, should have [sic].” Many people are upset by her use of the ... Read More

That we still need to be making arguments for why gays should not be executed, denied marriages, or treated as lesser humans, would have, in the past, worried me. However, as with all attempts to dictate how rational, competent adults should conduct themselves according to some arbitrary ... Read More

In a previous post, I indicated what I consider the “dangerous” realisation that there is no top-down meaning; that our actions aren’t found to be important by anyone (or One) other than ourselves. This idea destroyed and continues to destroy many ideas I embraced (and that I encounter). Based on ... Read More

When we think of tyrants or dictators, I think many of us conjure up either Orwellian or, rather, Stalinist-type regimes; but as these are steadily disappearing from the world, we must watch for the other type of tyranny: the many-eyed beast that is growing in our backyard, feeding on our placidity ... Read More

An idea which devastated many of my previous assumptions has implications for important views many of us hold. It also indicates the underlying basis of this blog itself. Investigating what is right or wrong often leads one into territory demarcated as a No-Man’s Land, to places forbidden, to ... Read More

As has been pointed out by John Stuart Mill, there is little reason to intervene in the free actions of adults, even and only if those actions harm themselves. If this is true, then what can be said about the moral justification for the many blogs, websites, people and books that detail and debunk ... Read More

The idea of being a parent should be thought through more carefully. When we assess the idea, it is clear that, given the current conditions of the world, there is no reason to create more children. I proposed this argument in 2010 and received vitriolic replies, which brought more heat than ... Read More

The consistency of individual autonomy, as Mill outlined, indicates that just as we can live as we wish (with certain constraints), we ought to be able to die as we wish, too. Today is human rights day in South Africa. This piece seems to me appropriate, given that I think the right to die ... Read More

John Stuart Mill would say, in most cases, we should allow people to harm themselves – assuming they are rational adults. In On Liberty, John Stuart Mill writes: “the object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle." That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are ... Read More

This is an open letter in response to a religious group, who have argued to remove a piece of entertainment based on their moral values, in a secular society. The South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference claims they have good reasons why you and I should not view an ad that apparently mocks ... Read More

John Stuart Mill's argument against silencing dissent highlights important reasons we should never silence any view or idea, because of mere outrage or offence. Yesterday, I discussed the importance of John Stuart Mill and his idea of thinking for oneself. The primary idea lies in Mill’s ... Read More

The first post in a series looking at John Stuart Mill and the defence of individual liberty. The great English philosopher and thinker John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) regarded himself as “unremarkable”. In his Autobiography (1873), he considered his early education to be something that “could ... Read More