tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post1770576751348677470..comments2024-03-12T22:31:46.500-04:00Comments on What Would Phoebe Do?: First World as problemPhoebe Maltz Bovyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-39456154596706340382009-03-13T17:57:00.000-04:002009-03-13T17:57:00.000-04:00Don't give up, whatever some head "in the wrong pl...Don't give up, whatever some head "in the wrong place" philosopher says. Your thesis could hardly be more esoteric than "Initial boundary value problems for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws" ("hyperbolic" does not mean "exaggerated"). <BR/><BR/>I assume you went to graduate school because you were interested in the subject, not because you wanted to get rich. Live in the moment. Nobody knows what the job market will be like in two years.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-65015289871985410602009-03-10T18:35:00.000-04:002009-03-10T18:35:00.000-04:00Did you read his infamous Nerve article on bestial...Did you read his infamous Nerve article on bestiality? It's Singer's no-actually-don't-take-me-seriously piece, like Posner's "Wouldn't it be better to sell babies than to abort them" article, except Singer's arguing "Wouldn't it be better to have sex with animals than factory farm them?"PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-42559720952763638122009-03-10T17:03:00.000-04:002009-03-10T17:03:00.000-04:00PG: Responding to the Singer piece was meant just ...PG: <BR/><BR/>Responding to the Singer piece was meant just to be part of the blog's Humanities Anti-Defamation theme. But it's tough to discuss just that piece without delving into his whole philosophy, or what I could gauge of it after Googling him and reading a couple of his articles.<BR/><BR/>Withywindle: <BR/><BR/>So far it's mostly been non-novels, newspapers especially, although for the time period I'm looking at, there was plenty of fiction in newspapers.Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-23718302000999331912009-03-10T15:35:00.000-04:002009-03-10T15:35:00.000-04:00Incidentally, how many non-novels are you reading,...Incidentally, how many non-novels are you reading, to get a sense of how many of the changes are within the novel genre, and how many are part of general changes in newspapers, poems, essays, etc.?Withywindlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11465319711207992232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-8364404942480728612009-03-09T23:13:00.000-04:002009-03-09T23:13:00.000-04:00I am a little puzzled as to why you are taking an ...I am a little puzzled as to why you are taking an act utilitarian like Singer so seriously. As he demonstrated by putting his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother in a fancy nursing home instead of politely euthanizing her and sending the money to Bono, even Singer doesn't take himself that seriously. (Though he does dress horribly enough that I believe he isn't spending his money on new clothes, even from the Gap.)<BR/><BR/>Anyway, if one takes Singer's positions all together, the best thing to do is not donate your money to relieving hunger, but to setting up as many Planned Parenthood clinics in Africa as possible, where they can insert IUDs and perform abortions so that the minimum number of wretched are born in the first place. If life is just for the avoidance of suffering, why not prevent the suffering as early as possible?PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.com