Thought Probes

Platonic Humans: Can human beings be defined as featherless bipeds?
Featherless Biped (http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=7061) Anecdote regarding Plato's definition of a human being and Diogenes' refutation of it.



In Praise of Cynicism (http://www.freeinquirynetwork.com/Cynicism.html) Article by Tim Madigan (University of Rochester) describing Diogenes' philosophical school, the cynics.



Greek Philosophers and Aristophanes (http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ4-GreekPhilosophers.html) Article on Diogenes and other Greek philosophers by Sanderson Beck



Definition (http://www.plusroot.com/dbook/15Def.html) Description of a number of criteria of adequacy that good definitions should meet from plusroot.com



The Ethical Force of Definitions (http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~walton/80ethical.pdf) Article by Douglas N. Walton (University of Winnipeg) on the importance of good definitions in ethical debate

Non-Human Persons: Can non-humans be persons?
Animal Experimentation, Infanticide, Persons, and non-Persons (http://members.optusnet.com.au/~cranesco/a-i-p&np.html) Article by Scott Crane exploring the definition of personhood



Should Vegetarians Play Video Games? (http://www.stir.ac.uk/departments/arts/philosophy/cnw/webpapers/matthew3.htm) Article by Matthew Elton (University of Stirling) arguing that vegetarians shouldn't play video games because of the harm it does to the characters in the game



Right and Wrong in Biotechnology: What we Don't Know Tells Us What We Can't Do (http://www.theuniversityconcourse.com/VIII,2,1-13-2003/Crosby.htm) Article by John Henry Crosby (The University Concourse) arguing that embryos don't show themselves to be persons



Can Androids Feel Pain? (http://slashdot.org/features/99/09/19/225212.shtml) Posting by Jon Katz on Slashdot.org



Killing and the Value of Human Life (http://web.uvic.ca/~cmacleod/232w6.htm) Lecture notes by Colin McLeod (University of Victoria) on the moral differences between persons and animals



Legal Rights of Robots (http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/LegalRightsOfRobots.htm) Article by Robert A. Freitas arguing that self-aware robots should have rights

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