Tauriq Moosa
Writer, Ethicist
Tauriq Moosa is a tutor in ethics, bioethics and critical thinking at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the Centre for Applied Ethics, Stellenbosch University. He has published essays and articles on practical ethics, focusing on subjects like free expression, killing, sex, and religion in public life. He debated religion with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the BBC documentary, the Tutu Talks, and has been featured on local radio shows. He is also an avid comic book writer and reader.
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Read more of Tauriq's essays and articles at tauriqmoosa.wordpress.com and 3quarksdaily.com
We don’t know what the future will bring in terms of enhancement. But to be fundamentally opposed to it is to fundamentally opposed to the future of medical science.
South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, was recently portrayed with his penis hanging out, by the very talented satirical artist Brett Murray. The piece, entitled The Spear, features President Zuma standing […]
On this blog, I often write about so-called controversial topics, which test people’s moral convictions: If you agree about abortion, you should agree about infanticide; there are no good reasons […]
One consistent theme I’ve found of investigating outrage is how often those who are outraged demand that legality align itself to their morality. Consider for example New York State’s non-criminal […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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) […]
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 […]
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 […]
Given the large number of orphaned children in the world, I can see no reason why people should create children. Secondly, a failure to become adoptive parents is not sufficient reason to then procreate.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Threats and outrage can no more shut up ideas than a cage made of smoke. It’s time we stop using violent tactics, as ways to voice our disagreements. In case […]
There’s been some interesting responses to my post on our obligation to eat headless, legless chickens (aside from the vague namecalling and useless expressions of outrage and disgust. Something is […]
Francesca Minerva has been receiving death threats. Did she harm anyone? Did she stab, mutilate, or otherwise physically incite people to violence? No: instead she fulfilled her duty as a […]
In defence of Alberto Giubilini, Francesca Minerva and the Journal of Medical Ethics, as per the recent publication about killing newborn infants. This essentially is an open letter of solidarity […]
A recent proposal to remove the heads and legs of chickens may be the best thing we can do for them. If we can reduce our farmed animals to vegetables, […]
Why do skeptics bother to debunk quackery if the rational adult who chooses to use these unverified methods harms no-one but himself?
Batman is wrong to be nonlethal in the case of the Joker. This shows we can, in some cases, morally kill someone against his will. I am something of a […]
Twin Brothers in Almost Lifelong Relationship Though I don’t read “Dear Prudence” letters, I was struck by a recent headline on Slate (which I do read). ‘Brotherly Love: My twin […]
Introduction to the ‘Killing Ethically’ series Killing can be sign of compassion or malice. This means when discussing killing, I will be using the word in a neutral way: it […]
In Defence of Hamza Kashgari The chalk outline of societal protection is increasingly being coloured in by personal offense and we’re left with a corpse called justice. Yet, whatever name […]
Last time, in the introductory post, I suggested that evidence is more important than outrage. Outrage indicates how outraged individuals want the world to be; evidence tells everyone how the […]
What happens when scientific investigation gives us a conclusion we do not like? Do we load our guns of conformity, light the canons of outrage, and march on?