«Hva er det vi egentlig mener når vi sier, mennesket er dødelig?» spør Woody Allen i boken The Insanity Defence. Han legger til: «Det er åpenbart ikke et kompliment.»1 Jeg tror Woody tar feil her. Vår dødelighet er et kompliment – eller i det minste av det gode – siden livet uten døden ville være katastrofalt. Udødelige liv fører til dyp kjedsomhet, eksistensiell angst og en radikal form for ...

This chapter reconstructs the concept of hidden inwardness, arguing that this term refers to moral characters (and religious characters) that are expressed with deeds and words, rather than referring to a private inner world. By relying on the distinction between morality and legality, the chapter argues that “hidden inwardness” is not compatible with all kinds of behavior, and that it is better ...

According to common sense and a majority of philosophers, death can be bad for the person who dies. This is because it can deprive the dying person of life worth living. I accept that death can be bad in this way, but argue that most people greatly overestimate the magnitude of this form of badness. They do so because they significantly overestimate the goodness of what death deprives us of: ordinary ...

Discussing three issues that are central to philosophical thinking, the article argues that each and every society requires the kind of reflection that philosophy entails. The first issue concerns the claim that we have to give reasons for our assertions, the second addresses the idea and significance of truth, and a third pivotal philosophical question deals with the importance of acknowledging ...

I artikkelen diskuterer jeg hvorfor vi bør undervise kanoniserte mannlige filosofers kjønnsperspektiver til examen philosophicum. Dette er ofte et neglisjert tema i lærebøker i filosofiens historie. Etter mitt syn finnes det i det minste tre grunner for inkludering av kjønnsperspektivene: For det første, har de kanoniserte mannlige filosofenes syn hatt avgjørende innflytelse på hvordan vi har ...

The paper discusses Rawls’ and Habermas’ theories of deliberative democracy, focusing on the question of religious reasons in political discourse. Whereas Rawls as well as Habermas defend a fully inclusivist position on the use of religious reasons in the ‘background culture’ (Rawls) or ‘informal public sphere’ (Habermas), we defend a moderately inclusivist position. Moderate inclusivism welcomes ...

Elsewhere we have responded to the so-called demandingness objection to consequentialism – that consequentialism is excessively demanding and is therefore unacceptable as a moral theory – by introducing the theoretical position we call institutional consequentialism. This is a consequentialist view that, however, requires institutional systems, and not individuals, to follow the consequentialist ...

Logic is widely held to be a normative discipline. Various claims have been offered in support of this view, but they all revolve around the idea that logic is concerned with how one ought to reason. I argue that most of these claims—while perhaps correct—only entail that logic is normative in a way that many, if not all, intellectual disciplines are normative. I also identify some claims whose ...