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    1. Has there ever been a time before where so much social change was occuring in quick succession of each other?

      I am not really someone who is well-versed in history, I never paid attention in high school, I couldn't wait to GTFO. I know what I know based solely on podcasts/debates/lectures I find on...

      I am not really someone who is well-versed in history, I never paid attention in high school, I couldn't wait to GTFO. I know what I know based solely on podcasts/debates/lectures I find on YouTube and what Hollywood brings to my attention.

      from my own knowledge, periods of social change (at least in North America):

      • the civil rights movement
      • women's suffrage movement
      • civil war (given it was fought to a great deal to end slavery)

      when it comes to social changes in history that is not based in North America, I know of only the broad strokes and none of the specifics, like I know the arrival of the printing press lead to a great deal of struggle in the same way that the arrival of social media has created a struggle, just the balance of power has changed.

      I also know that France went through a French Revolution that played a big part of its current political landscape and its secular status quo.

      However, something I have found interesting is that within the span of <10 years, we are experiencing a reckoning on several different fronts:

      • MeToo movement have rise to a long-needed discussion of sexual harassment and just a general gender reckoning in other ways too
      • the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests gave rise to a global awareness that race-related issues
      • the Hamas attack on Israel has certainly pushed the discussion of Israel-Palestine to the forefront. Before the attack, I could not tell you the difference between Erdoğan and Netanyahu. That's obviously no longer the case.

      But it makes me wonder if this is unprecedented in human history that so many different issues of social change are being pushed to the forefront in very quick succession of each other or this is a repeat, that it's common for a civilization that experiences one changing in the social norm, to start experiencing other social changes cause they are always in the mindset or something?

      10 votes
    2. What considerations are considered most persuasive in moving moral skeptics to moral objectivism?

      I've found error theory, emotivism, etc. quite compelling, but I noticed that most philosophers are moral realists, though PhilPapers doesn't ask specifically about moral objectivism. As a...

      I've found error theory, emotivism, etc. quite compelling, but I noticed that most philosophers are moral realists, though PhilPapers doesn't ask specifically about moral objectivism. As a non-philosopher, I feel that there may be considerations that I haven't come across. The SEP entry seems a bit lacking to me considering it's just a supplement to the entry on moral anti-realism, and there doesn't seem to be an IEP entry specifically focused on moral objectivism, just a tiny section in the entry on moral realism.

      17 votes
    3. Assume the Sapir-Whorf Linguistic Theory is accurate: What languages would be best to learn, to improve one's cognitive functions and/or worldview?

      Inspired by the recent post about Arrival / The Story of Your Life The idea of linguistic relativity ... is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language influences its speakers'...

      Inspired by the recent post about Arrival / The Story of Your Life

      The idea of linguistic relativity ... is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language influences its speakers' worldview or cognition, and thus individuals' languages determine or influence their perceptions of the world.

      There's, of course, a lot more to it, many variations, and all still at least somewhat in dispute.

      Nevertheless, as the title says, assume it's true, and speculate on which languages would be the most interesting to learn from an "expand your mind" perspective.

      7 votes