Why exactly is it wrong to kill my brother?

We recently discussed Aquinas’s synthesis of divine law and natural reason; revelation and religious experience as sources of authority; experiment as the paradigm of empirical inquiry; the historical structure of meaning; animal cognition as a limit case for moral standing; utilitarian, sentimentalist, consequentialist, and Chinese ethical traditions; reasoning, normativity, and metaethics; naturalism and its moral and anti-naturalist counterparts; and Darwinian explanations of moral sense. Williams’s challenge to ethical theory, Dretske’s account of mind as a natural system, and Weil’s call for rooted obligation together trace the tension between natural explanation and moral transcendence.

Each of us has his or her own philosophical history and journey, and during these walks, we introduce each other to our recent questions and reflections. There is no assigned reading, no required text. Bring your own recommendations, or see what has been recommended by others before. In this dropbox folder you'll find texts and videos that have been discussed on previous occasions. You'll also find a list of recommended texts, if you are new to philosophy.

We gather at Flywheel Coffee, near Stanyan and Page. At 11:15am we begin a hike through Golden Gate Park and return to Flywheel by 1:00pm. During the walk, we'll discuss your philosophical topics, whatever they may be.