Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up and get your free philosophical health check...
Ever wondered if your ideas about the world are actually consistent with each other?
Ever feel like you might be a raging hypocritical moron? Ever thought someone else was?
Truth is, most of us spend our lives attached to little ideas we have about the way life should be but it turns out few of us actually agree with the principles we think we do. A lot of the time, our ideas come into conflict with each other which is why working out the morality of things can be tricky...
For example;
Do you believe that people should be free to make their own decisions and live out their lives doing what they want so long as they don't hurt anyone else?
Do you believe a person should be arrested if they sat next to you on a park bench and injected themselves with heroin in front of you and your kids?
Well, you can't actually have one without the other.
I found this great website a little while back and there is a bunch of tests on it that evaluate your ideas, ethics and morals, just to let you know that you probably spend most nights arguing with yourself and why...
Take a look! http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/check.php
(no I'm not advertising btw, just sharing something cool)
Aaaand for the discussion, Share your findings with us and lets find out who can walk the walk, talk the talk and erm... Think.... the think.... There is bound to be some surprises in store for everyone. Certainly made me think twice.
Edit
I just wanted to address a few common complaints with some of the questions...
The one that causes the most grief is the Michaelangelo question...
Are judgements of art purely a subjective matter?
vs
Michaelangelo is one of history's finest artists
The key word is purely, If you believe that judgement of art is purely subjective you are not leaving room for any objectivity. If you state that "Michaelangelo's work is one of history's finest artists" you are also suggesting that someone else's negative opinion doesn't count.
The question didn't say "In my opinion, Michaelangelo is one of history's finest artists"...
A cheap shot perhaps, but the questions are designed to test the strength of your convictions. You need to be able to account for all possible meanings of a phrase as well as taking it as literally as possible...
Also regarding the questions I posted in the OP above (also covered in the test under a different wording:
It was deliberately ambiguous. And I personally agree with a lot of you regarding the specifics of the question, although the purpose of the question wasn't to ask for your stance on drugs, the real point of the question was this...
Should people live freely so long as they do not harm others?
Should something be made illegal if it can harm oneself?
If we believe the first statement we should also accept the potential consequences of the second. There is at least some conflict in one's attitudes toward personal freedom if both statements are agreed with in this case.
Those statements are designed to come into conflict with each other. My apologies for not making the questions a little clearer.
It appears many of you didn't know the definitions of a few words which are crucial to your understanding of some of the questions in this test. Sorry if this comes across as patronising...
Objectivity - Meaning ultimate truth, not personal opinion.
Subjectivity - Meaning truth from a personal perspective, your's or another's opinion.
Atheist - Meaning one who does not believe in God. This does automatically assume the statement "There is no God, singular or plural". In the test, Atheism is not considered a faith.
Thank you and my apologies if you are left in a state of rage afterwards, Enjoy.
Objectivity - Meaning ultimate truth, not personal opinion.
Subjectivity - Meaning truth from a personal perspective, your's or another's opinion.
Atheist - Meaning one who does not believe in God. This does automatically assume the statement "There is no God, singular or plural". In the test, Atheism is not considered a faith.
Thank you and my apologies if you are left in a state of rage afterwards, Enjoy.
Ever wondered if your ideas about the world are actually consistent with each other?
Ever feel like you might be a raging hypocritical moron? Ever thought someone else was?
Truth is, most of us spend our lives attached to little ideas we have about the way life should be but it turns out few of us actually agree with the principles we think we do. A lot of the time, our ideas come into conflict with each other which is why working out the morality of things can be tricky...
For example;
Do you believe that people should be free to make their own decisions and live out their lives doing what they want so long as they don't hurt anyone else?
Do you believe a person should be arrested if they sat next to you on a park bench and injected themselves with heroin in front of you and your kids?
Well, you can't actually have one without the other.
I found this great website a little while back and there is a bunch of tests on it that evaluate your ideas, ethics and morals, just to let you know that you probably spend most nights arguing with yourself and why...
Take a look! http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/check.php
(no I'm not advertising btw, just sharing something cool)
Aaaand for the discussion, Share your findings with us and lets find out who can walk the walk, talk the talk and erm... Think.... the think.... There is bound to be some surprises in store for everyone. Certainly made me think twice.
Edit
I just wanted to address a few common complaints with some of the questions...
The one that causes the most grief is the Michaelangelo question...
Are judgements of art purely a subjective matter?
vs
Michaelangelo is one of history's finest artists
The key word is purely, If you believe that judgement of art is purely subjective you are not leaving room for any objectivity. If you state that "Michaelangelo's work is one of history's finest artists" you are also suggesting that someone else's negative opinion doesn't count.
The question didn't say "In my opinion, Michaelangelo is one of history's finest artists"...
A cheap shot perhaps, but the questions are designed to test the strength of your convictions. You need to be able to account for all possible meanings of a phrase as well as taking it as literally as possible...
Also regarding the questions I posted in the OP above (also covered in the test under a different wording:
It was deliberately ambiguous. And I personally agree with a lot of you regarding the specifics of the question, although the purpose of the question wasn't to ask for your stance on drugs, the real point of the question was this...
Should people live freely so long as they do not harm others?
Should something be made illegal if it can harm oneself?
If we believe the first statement we should also accept the potential consequences of the second. There is at least some conflict in one's attitudes toward personal freedom if both statements are agreed with in this case.
Those statements are designed to come into conflict with each other. My apologies for not making the questions a little clearer.
