The Real-Life Applications of Studying Philosophy

Many people have this impression that philosophy is all about pointless musings and abstractions, headachy nit-picking and really out-there topics. And it absolutely can be at times. But there is also a huge underestimation of philosophy’s benefits. Studying philosophy is by no means a waste of time, whether you’re doing it at an undergraduate, Masters…

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The Dangers of Cynicism and Why Scepticism is the Better Outlook

We would all like to think that when we do something with good intentions and act on those intentions, we are behaving as purely morally upright people. We may believe that we can easily discern when we (or others) act altruistically and when the opposite is true. However, our conflicted and flawed nature means this…

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The Ethics of Using Smart Drugs to Boost Performance

Using smart drugs to boost performance is not without its ethical issues. While some may claim that it’s cheating to take a substance to outcompete others, others will say that there’s actually a moral imperative to do so in some professions; say, in biomedical research or space exploration, where peak performance can benefit humanity in…

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The Ethics of Haggling in a Developing Country

Frugality is a virtue, especially when it comes to travelling. There is a problem, however, when frugality turns selfish; when a penny-pinching mentality is adopted in developing countries, and you start haggling over certain things, involving differences in price that are more or less negligible for you. No one likes to be ripped off, especially…

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Making a Difference in Developing Countries: Volunteering vs Tourism

There has long been controversy about ‘voluntourism’: an industry that caters to (mostly) Westerners and places them on volunteering programmes in developing countries. The industry offers those on a gap year the promise of making a difference in the deprived lives of others. On the surface, if a volunteer is flying to the other side…

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