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I'm a philosophy professor at the University of Lethbridge in Southern Alberta, Canada. I specialize in philosophy of war, game theory, contractarianism, and theodicy (the Problem of Evil). I am bald, fat, and ugly, but my wife loves me, so I don't care.

• CATCH 22

  By paulosophicalvimplications on April 3, 2023 • ( 2 )

  With the exception of my students, who’ve commented that I’m the only one still teaching philosophy rather than how to be woke, pretty much everyone at the University of Lethbridge, myself included, wants me gone. I don’t need the money,… Read More ›

• WHAT IS MORALITY?

  By paulosophicalvimplications on April 2, 2023 • ( 0 )

  1.Ethics and Meta-Ethics: Ethics is about how we should behave. Meta-ethics is about what we’re doing when we’re doing ethics. That is, meta-ethics asks why we should behave as we should. Note that it won’t do to say because we… Read More ›

• Guest Post (forwarded message): Free Online Conference on EDI and Academic Freedom.

  By paulosophicalvimplications on March 28, 2023 • ( 2 )

  Note from Viminitz’ research assistant: Viminitz is not involved with organising this conference, nor is he a panelist. PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY Dear colleagues,  Please join us on April 20 & 21, 2023, for a free, online conference on EDI (equity,… Read More ›

• HACKLES

  By paulosophicalvimplications on March 27, 2023 • ( 0 )

  Jonathan Haidt has argued that a university can seek the truth, or it can pursue social justice, but it can’t do both. This is not because the two are never one. As often as not they are. But that means… Read More ›

• WHAT IS WOKEISM?

  By paulosophicalvimplications on March 20, 2023 • ( 7 )

  If I’m going to be anti-woke – by which is meant, presumably, that I’m going to remain asleep – I suppose I should get clear about what Wokeism is. Pluckrose and Lindsay define it as reified post-modernism. That gets us… Read More ›

• THE HURT ARGUMENT

  By paulosophicalvimplications on March 15, 2023 • ( 6 )

  When you don’t want people to hear what they’d like to hear, you tell yourself not that they’d be hurt by hearing it – after all, that would be for them to decide! – but rather that there are people… Read More ›

• WHAT TERRY O’RILEY TAUGHT ME

  By paulosophicalvimplications on March 15, 2023 • ( 3 )

  There used to be a programme on the CBC, hosted by Terry O’Riley, called “The Age of Persuasion” and then later resurrected as “Under the Influence”. It was about advertising, and it was excellent. But remembering it now puts me… Read More ›

• HOW TO RESOLVE THE TRANS ISSUE

  By paulosophicalvimplications on March 15, 2023 • ( 0 )

  How do we get from (1) to (2)? And then from (2) to (3)? With a whole lot of as-yet-suppressed premises. After all, I could be lying. In fact maybe I have lied, on this very matter. In the event… Read More ›

• TWO MINOR COMPLAINTS

  By paulosophicalvimplications on February 6, 2023 • ( 1 )

  The Holocaust happened. The Exodus didn’t. Exodus-denial isn’t antisemitism, so why is Holocaust-denial?  It’s all about context, you say. Unlike Exodus-denial, Holocaust-denial is taken as an antisemitic trope. If a word means what it’s taken to mean, then why can’t… Read More ›

• DOG WHISTLING

  By paulosophicalvimplications on February 5, 2023 • ( 0 )

  Not unlike phrases – without which we can’t seem to speak – that catch on for a while and then fade away, argument strategies come in waves too. The latest is deciding – pretty much all on your own –… Read More ›