Richard Y Chappell🔸
@rychappell.bsky.social
Philosophy prof. Posts better stuff at www.goodthoughts.blog
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2024 in Review
This year I wrote 70 posts and gained 1,500 new subscribers (passing 4,500 in total), including three dozen paid subscriptions since introducing the option in June. I appreciate all my readers, but it...
www.goodthoughts.blog
My annual "Year in Review" summarizes the best of the 70 blog posts I wrote in 2024, ranging across meta-philosophy, ethical theory, applied ethics, and more:
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/2024-in-re...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/2024-in-re...
The most important influences on a debate occur in the cultural background, before any arguments are even exchanged.
In practical ethics, especially, these background assumptions are deeply shaped by vibe bias: attunement to what sounds superficially good.
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/vibe-bias
In practical ethics, especially, these background assumptions are deeply shaped by vibe bias: attunement to what sounds superficially good.
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/vibe-bias
Vibe Bias
Check Your Dialectical Privilege
www.goodthoughts.blog
July 11, 2025 at 2:47 PM
The most important influences on a debate occur in the cultural background, before any arguments are even exchanged.
In practical ethics, especially, these background assumptions are deeply shaped by vibe bias: attunement to what sounds superficially good.
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/vibe-bias
In practical ethics, especially, these background assumptions are deeply shaped by vibe bias: attunement to what sounds superficially good.
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/vibe-bias
This was a fun interview!
philosophyandfiction.substack.com/cp/168005453
philosophyandfiction.substack.com/cp/168005453
July 10, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This was a fun interview!
philosophyandfiction.substack.com/cp/168005453
philosophyandfiction.substack.com/cp/168005453
Part I of my review explained why we should be worried about below-replacement global fertility and subsequent depopulation. Today’s post asks what we should do about it. (Spoiler: make parenting easier and more appealing.)
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/a-human-ab...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/a-human-ab...
A Human Abundance Agenda
Review (#2/2) of *After the Spike*
www.goodthoughts.blog
July 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Part I of my review explained why we should be worried about below-replacement global fertility and subsequent depopulation. Today’s post asks what we should do about it. (Spoiler: make parenting easier and more appealing.)
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/a-human-ab...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/a-human-ab...
The procedural principles advanced in philosophy's latest condemnatory "open letter" seem pretty bad to me.
What's Wrong with Collaboration?
Against the argument from cooties
www.goodthoughts.blog
July 8, 2025 at 2:08 PM
The procedural principles advanced in philosophy's latest condemnatory "open letter" seem pretty bad to me.
A fun and wide-ranging discussion! www.goodthoughts.blog/p/ethics-dis...
Ethics Discussion with Daniel Muñoz
Hosted by Bentham's Bulldog
www.goodthoughts.blog
July 6, 2025 at 1:08 AM
A fun and wide-ranging discussion! www.goodthoughts.blog/p/ethics-dis...
One of the top priorities of public policy should be to shape our choice environment so that it’s easier to do good and worthwhile things. Requiring a license to exercise, parent, or donate to charity would violate this principle.
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-costs-...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-costs-...
The Costs of Permission
Against barriers to good behavior
www.goodthoughts.blog
July 5, 2025 at 3:28 PM
One of the top priorities of public policy should be to shape our choice environment so that it’s easier to do good and worthwhile things. Requiring a license to exercise, parent, or donate to charity would violate this principle.
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-costs-...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-costs-...
Why should life or death decisions turn on a question so empty and trivial as mere metaphysical taxonomy?
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/death-by-m...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/death-by-m...
July 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Why should life or death decisions turn on a question so empty and trivial as mere metaphysical taxonomy?
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/death-by-m...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/death-by-m...
New book makes a compelling case for thinking that depopulation is a serious moral concern, and we should do more as a society to make parenting easier & more appealing, so more people want to do more of it! forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/B7bLd4...
Debate: Depopulation Matters — EA Forum
After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People by Dean Spears and Michael Geruso is one of the most bracing, insightful, and import…
forum.effectivealtruism.org
July 1, 2025 at 3:15 PM
New book makes a compelling case for thinking that depopulation is a serious moral concern, and we should do more as a society to make parenting easier & more appealing, so more people want to do more of it! forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/B7bLd4...
Are there reasons to doubt the objectivity of moral truths that aren’t equally reasons to doubt the objectivity of metaethical claims like “there are no objective moral truths”?
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/meta-metae...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/meta-metae...
Meta-Metaethical Realism
Could Anti-Realism be Objectively True?
www.goodthoughts.blog
June 28, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Are there reasons to doubt the objectivity of moral truths that aren’t equally reasons to doubt the objectivity of metaethical claims like “there are no objective moral truths”?
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/meta-metae...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/meta-metae...
If the status quo is genuinely atrocious, is there an inoffensive way to convey the truth of the matter?
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-moral-...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-moral-...
The Moral Gadfly's Double-Bind
Warranted moral criticism is rarely welcomed
www.goodthoughts.blog
June 25, 2025 at 11:20 AM
If the status quo is genuinely atrocious, is there an inoffensive way to convey the truth of the matter?
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-moral-...
www.goodthoughts.blog/p/the-moral-...
For both theoretical and substantive reasons, I don’t think that death could be absolutely bad. (Though happy life is certainly vastly better!)
Death isn't bad
But Life is Better
www.goodthoughts.blog
June 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM
For both theoretical and substantive reasons, I don’t think that death could be absolutely bad. (Though happy life is certainly vastly better!)
Voting Footbridge: a trolley will kill five, unless a robot pushes a fat man in front of the trolley. The robot is controlled by a voting group of bystanders consisting of one utilitarian and several deontologists. What should the deontologists do (by their own lights)?
Deontologists Shouldn't Vote*
Quiet Deontology Wants Out of the Public Sphere
www.goodthoughts.blog
June 11, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Voting Footbridge: a trolley will kill five, unless a robot pushes a fat man in front of the trolley. The robot is controlled by a voting group of bystanders consisting of one utilitarian and several deontologists. What should the deontologists do (by their own lights)?
If you’re proposing a policy that involves clear utilitarian harms, you need to say something about why the other properties you’re interested in—vaguely egalitarian symbolism, or whatever—should take priority over others’ lives and vital interests.
Sacrificing Individuals for Symbolism
Seems bad
www.goodthoughts.blog
June 10, 2025 at 1:31 PM
If you’re proposing a policy that involves clear utilitarian harms, you need to say something about why the other properties you’re interested in—vaguely egalitarian symbolism, or whatever—should take priority over others’ lives and vital interests.
My paper ‘Preference and Prevention: A New Paradox of Deontology’ has just been published in the inaugural issue of the open access journal Free & Equal!
freeandequaljournal.org/article/id/1...
freeandequaljournal.org/article/id/1...
Preference and Prevention: A New Paradox of Deontology
It’s commonly thought that we can reasonably oppose serious wrongdoing. For example, deontologist bystanders may prefer that an agent allows the killing of five rather than wrongly killing one as a me...
freeandequaljournal.org
June 6, 2025 at 6:53 PM
My paper ‘Preference and Prevention: A New Paradox of Deontology’ has just been published in the inaugural issue of the open access journal Free & Equal!
freeandequaljournal.org/article/id/1...
freeandequaljournal.org/article/id/1...