Are extreme beliefs constitutive of echo chambers, or only typically caused by them? Or are many echo chambers unproblematic, amplifying relatively benign beliefs? This paper details the conceptual relations between echo chambers and extreme beliefs, showing how different conceptual choice-points in how we understand both echo chambers and extreme beliefs affects how we should evaluate, study, and engage with echo chambering groups. We also explore how our theories of extreme beliefs and echo chambers shape social scientific research and contribute in (...) a practical way when treating these phenomena, focusing on examples of climate change scepticism. (shrink)

This Commentary critiques an extremely relational view of robot moral status, drawing out its practical implications for ethics and law. It also suggests next steps for AI ethics if extremely relational reasoning is compelling. Section I introduces the topic, distinguishing an ‘extremely relational’ view from more moderate relational views. Section II illustrates extremely relational views using the example of embodiment. Section III explores practical implications of extremely relational views for ethics and law. Section IV offers possible responses to extreme relationism. (...) Section V concludes by suggesting next steps for AI ethics. (shrink)

Despite its prevalence, the term ‘extreme’ has received little critical attention. ‘Extremity’ is routinely employed in ways that imply its meanings are self-evident. However, the adjective itself offers no such clarity. This article focuses on one particular use of the term – ‘extreme porn’ – in order to illustrate a broader set of concerns about the pitfalls of labelling. The label ‘extreme’ is typically employed as a substitute for engaging with the term’s supposed referents (here, pornographic content). In its (...) contemporary usage, ‘extreme’ primarily refers to a set of context-dependent judgements rather than absolute standards or any specific properties the ‘extreme’ item is alleged to have. Concurrently then, the label ‘extreme’ carries a host of implicit values, and the presumption that the term’s meanings are ‘obvious’ obfuscates those values. In the case of ‘extreme porn’, this obfuscation is significant because it has facilitated the cultural and legal suppression of pornography. (shrink)

Marya Schechtman has raised a series of worries for the Psychological Continuity Theory of personal identity (PCT) stemming out of what Derek Parfit called the ‘Extreme Claim’. This is roughly the claim that theories like it are unable to explain the importance we attach to personal identity. In her recent Staying Alive (2014), she presents further arguments related to this and sets out a new narrative theory, the Person Life View (PLV), which she sees as solving the problems as well (...) as bringing other advantages over the PCT. I look over some of her earlier arguments and responses to them as a way in to the new issues and theory. I argue that the problems for the PCT and advantages that the PLV brings are all merely apparent, and present no reason for giving up the former for the latter. (shrink)

Extreme Permissivism is the view that a body of evidence could rationally permit both the attitude of belief and disbelief towards a proposition. This paper puts forward a new argument against Extreme Permissivism, which improves on a similar style of argument due to Roger White (2005, 2014). White’s argument is built around the principle that the support relation between evidence and a hypothesis is objective: so that if evidence E makes it rational for an agent to believe a hypothesis H, (...) then E makes it rational to believe H, for all agents. In this paper, I construct a new argument against Extreme Permissivism that appeals to a logically weaker, less demanding view about evidential support, Relational Objectivity: whether a body of evidence E is more likely if H is true than if H is false is an objective matter and does not depend on how any agent interprets the relationship between E and H. Relational Objectivity is solely concerned with the conditional probabilities called likelihoods and does not put substantive constraints on an agent’s prior and posterior credences. For this reason, the presented argument avoids the standard permissivist criticism levelled against White’s argument. (shrink)

It is plausible that being an evil person is a matter of having a particularly morally depraved character. I argue that suffering from extreme moral vices—and not consistently lacking moral vices, for example—suffices for being evil. Alternatively, I defend an extremity account concerning evil personhood against consistency accounts of evil personhood. After clarifying what it is for vices to be extreme, I note that the extremity thesis I defend allows that a person could suffer from both extremely vicious (...) character traits while possessing some modest virtue as well. By contrast, consistency theses rule out this possibility by definition. This result does not suggest that extremity accounts are flawed, however, since, as I argue, the thesis that evil people must lack moral virtue altogether effectively defines evil people out of existence and prematurely privileges skepticism about evil personhood. Ultimately, I contend that an extremity account is most consistent with common intuitions about putative evil persons as well as plausible assumptions about aretaic evaluations of character quite generally. (shrink)

Published as a chapter in the edited book Digital Extremism: Artificial Intelligence in Social Sciences and Religion (Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center, 2025, this study addresses extremism as a multifaceted and evolving threat to global security and social harmony. It explores the intricate interplay between political and religious extremism, which often leads to compounded crises, while identifying the lack of standardized metrics as a primary hindrance to effective tracking. The research delves into the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to establish (...) a robust framework for measuring extremism within the social sciences by identifying key indicators and exploring AI-powered algorithms for detection and analysis. Ultimately, the study aims to provide policymakers and practitioners with a comprehensive understanding and actionable insights to counter this pressing global challenge through an interdisciplinary, technology-driven approach. (shrink)

This article is featured in the book Terrorism in Africa: Ethnicity, Religion, and Politics, published by the Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center (2024). This research aims to study the phenomenon of extremism and terrorism in East African countries, illuminating the root causes that have transformed this region into a breeding ground for radical extremist groups. Employing a multi-layered approach, the study distinguishes between two primary levels: the proliferation of extremist discourse and the emergence of terrorism as overt acts of violence. (...) It further explores the diverse sources of extremism and terrorism, encompassing all justifications employed, including religion and ethnicity. By unraveling these complex dynamics, the paper paves the way for exploring more effective solutions that transcend conventional counterterrorism approaches, with the aim of mitigating this crisis and fostering regional stability. (shrink)

The word ‘extremist’ is often used pejoratively, but it’s not clear what, if anything, is wrong with extremism. My project is to give an account of moral extremism as a vice. It consists roughly in having moral convictions so intense that they cause a sort of moral tunnel vision, pushing salient competing considerations out of mind. We should be interested in moral extremism for several reasons: it’s consequential, it’s insidious – we don’t expect immorality to arise from excessive devotion to (...) morality – and it’s yet to attract much philosophical attention. I give several examples of moral extremism from history and explore their social-political implications. I also consider how we should evaluate people who miss the mark, being either too extreme in the service of a good cause or inconsistent with their righteous convictions. I compare John Brown and John Quincy Adams, who fell on either side of this spectrum, as examples. (shrink)

The maritime distress of migrants on the high seas and the anthropogenic climate change represent two of the most significant humanitarian and political challenges of our time. Referring to the Radbruch formula, this paper examines the question of whether state and supranational failure to act on these two complex problems can be classified as extreme injustice from a legal ethical perspective, and what minimum ethical requirements this would imply for states and communities of states. A plea is made for the (...) development and use of corresponding analyses and discourses as normative guidance - doing applied legal philosophy, not only for migrant and climate protection politics, but also for law makers and public discourse. (shrink)

Extremism is a perennial problem in our civilisation. It has constantly impeded our progress by leading to unnecessary wars, conflicts, enmity and hatred. Understanding the middle way between these two extremes helps us to clarify what extremism is and how it arises. Such an understanding can be made part of the education system so that children are taught from an early age to detect extremist tendencies in their own thinking and to control them for their own good and the good (...) of society. This paper extends the views expressed in my book, The Promise of Dualism (Almostic Publications) and other papers on the subject of extremism. It is focused on the following table which shows how the middle way stands between the extremes of too much power and too much belief. After the introduction, the rest of this paper explicates this table’s contents in considerable detail – line by line and word by word – in explanatory notes. (shrink)

Critics across the political spectrum have worried that ordinary uses of words like 'racist', 'sexist', and 'homophobic' are becoming conceptually inflated, meaning that these expressions are getting used so widely that they lose their nuance and, thereby, their moral force. However, the charge of conceptual inflation, as well as responses to it, are standardly made without any systematic investigation of how 'racist' and other expressions condemning oppression are actually used in ordinary language. Once we examine large linguistic corpora to see (...) how these expressions are actually used, we find that English speakers have a rich linguistic repertoire for qualifying the degree to which and dimensions along which something is racist, sexist, homophobic, and so on. These facts about ordinary usage undermine the charge of conceptual inflation. Without awareness of facts about ordinary usage, theorists risk making linguistic prescriptions that are unnecessary or counterproductive. (shrink)

Individuals come across extreme Uncertainty situations, feeling rounded–up 360 degrees, as if trapped inside Chakra Vyuha (wheel form strategy). For uncertainty is often related to future, the concept of Future Time perspective (FTP) is relied upon for attaining positive states. But FTP is a critical factor which works both positively and negatively depending on other factors intervening. For politicians and businessmen such states of being trapped in Chakra Vyuha, can mean end of their political life or business life. In the (...) current paper, the author describes the introspection of a Subject while he attempted to alter his Future Time perspective. This introspective report further gave clue for Merged Time Perspective or Seamless Time Horizon instead of FTP and also that Regulatory Focus and Resistance To Change need to be combined, coalesced and treated on a single continuum. Current author also has proposed a therapy outline to help businessmen and politicians to come out of devastating situations in which they feel rounded – up by opponents 360 degrees. (shrink)

This paper sets mathematics among the sciences, despite not being empirical, because it studies relations of various sorts, like the sciences. Each empirical science studies the relations among objects, which relations determining which science. The mathematical science studies relations as such, regardless of what those relations may be or be among, how relations themselves are related. This places it at the extreme among the sciences with no objects of its own (A Subject with no Object, by J.P. Burgess and G. (...) Rosen). Examples are discussed. The historical development of written mathematics from algorithms on clay tablets to theorems with proofs is said to show that application of algorithms to specific problems and theorems to scientific objects is like allegorical interpretation. Mathematics fits into the modern scientific context because the sciences, beginning with Galileo, have been constructed in imitation of mathematics. Viewing mathematics this way does not solve any ontological problems, but it does show how mathematics avoids them. Epistemological problems, insuperable for object realism, are simplified. For example, we have access to relations among any objects that we can consider objectively, first physical objects and then mathematical objects of greater and greater abstraction. (shrink)

methods that have shown promise for improving extreme risk analysis, particularly for assessing the risks of invasive pests and pathogens associated with international trade. We describe the legally inspired regulatory regime for banks, where these methods have been brought to bear on extreme ‘operational risks’. We argue that an ‘advocacy model’ similar to that used in the Basel II compliance regime for bank operational risks and to a lesser extent in biosecurity import risk analyses is ideal for permitting the diversity (...) of relevant evidence about invasive species to be presented and soundly evaluated. We recommend that the process be enhanced in ways that enable invasion ecology to make more explicit use of the methods found successful.. (shrink)

Introduction Wealth has long been viewed as a symbol of power, security, and success. In modern society, many people believe that extreme accumulation of wealth can provide a permanent sense of happiness and fulfillment. Yet, history and psychology consistently show that despite immense riches, individuals often experience emptiness, dissatisfaction, and even despair. This paradox raises an important question: Why, despite extreme wealth, can we not cheat what we feel inside? -/- .

At a critical time when divisive and extremist narratives are feeding new wars, inter-community and inter-personal conflicts, Gavrielides' new monograph challenges the current model for preventing and controlling violent radicalisation and extremism while it opens new possibilities through a positive, scientific approach. Gavrielides taps into the combined strengths of restorative justice, positive criminology and positive psychology to articulate and pilot a new model for prevention and control of the acts and behaviours that lead to violence and suffering. The book combines (...) philosophy, normative analysis and primary data collected through six pilot projects that were carried out in several countries from 2017. It presents the results of these pilots and normative thinking through critical analysis leading to practical tools for preventing and controlling harm particularly violent radicalised acts and extremist behaviours and worldviews. This book speaks to researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and human rights campaigners from around the world looking for a new approach that can better serve harmed parties, their families, and communities. -/- “Addressing Violent Radicalisation and Extremism: A Restorative Justice, Psychosocial Approach offers a refreshing and holistic perspective on one of the most pressing global issues today—violent extremism. By integrating restorative justice principles with a psychosocial approach, the book moves beyond punitive measures and focuses on healing, rehabilitation, and the reintegration of individuals into society. Theo Gavrielides explores the complex roots of radicalization, paying close attention to factors that contribute to extremist ideologies. This approach is particularly valuable in its ability to connect theory to practice, offering practical information for students and professionals working in the fields of justice, counter-terrorism, and community building. The discussions, case studies, and examples help ground the theory in real-world applications, making it a useful resource for both academics and practitioners. Overall, this book is a thought-provoking and important contribution to the discourse on counter-extremism, proposing a path that emphasizes empathy, accountability, and long-term peace-building over retribution.” ​ Professor Clarence Augustus Martin, J.D., Ph.D. (Chair Department of Criminal Justice Administration, California State University, USA). (shrink)

Research on health inequality has traditionally focused on metrics such as years of life lost and disability-adjusted life years. This paper argues that current metrics systematically undervalue health conditions causing extreme pain to patients. Cluster headache, possibly the most painful condition known to medicine, offers a striking example of vast misallocation of economic resources relative to the burden caused, particularly relative to resources spent on similarly prevalent conditions such as multiple sclerosis. This inequality is further exacerbated when considering the possibility (...) that the most extreme human experiences may be orders of magnitude more intense than mild ones, significantly increasing the urgency of addressing conditions involving extreme pain in any economy focused on wellbeing. To better grasp the scale of the suffering caused by cluster headache, statistical data from the medical literature was aggregated into a publicly available suite of numerical simulations that estimate the global burden of cluster headache pain. Results indicate that adults with cluster headache spend 3.1 million person-days per year globally, experiencing extreme pain (rated as ≥9/10). The burden of cluster headache pain is compared to that of multiple sclerosis. An analysis of the research investment that has gone into both conditions in recent decades in the UK also reveals substantial discrepancies. Global under-funding of cluster headache may be even larger than in the UK data analysed in detail. Optimistically, it is estimated that a modest investment to provide universal access to existing treatments and to explore promising treatments could significantly reduce the burden of extreme pain caused by this devastating condition, presenting a remarkably cost-effective intervention for any well-being economy. Modest and ambitious improvements in healthcare metrics are suggested to aid the correction of such dramatic wellbeing inequalities in other conditions. (shrink)

Terrorist actors often hold extreme beliefs. Such beliefs may concern – more narrowly – the legitimacy of their actions (including the moral status of the victims of direct violence), their prospects of success, and whether violence is their last resort, or – more broadly – socio-political matters in general. I discuss in what sense violent actors can hold collective responsibility for extreme beliefs. Doxastic involuntariness – the view that we do not typically choose what to believe – seems to suggest (...) that we cannot usually be responsible for our beliefs. However, even if we accept doxastic involuntariness, this does not yet settle the question of our epistemic obligations. We can voluntarily engage in actions that preserve or improve our epistemic position. Having said that, our opportunities for improving our epistemic position will be curtailed when we find ourselves in epistemically impoverished environments. Individual epistemic agents are not usually in a position to significantly change those environments on their own – this requires a collective effort. Consequently, I suggest that responsibility for extreme beliefs – including in terrorist groups – is in some cases better understood as a shared epistemic responsibility and in others as a form of epistemic complicity. (shrink)

Open Access: This essay argues that Claudia Card numbers among important contributors to nonideal ethical theory, and it advocates for the worth of NET. Following philosophers including Lisa Tessman and Charles Mills, the essay contends that it is important for ethical theory, and for feminist purposes, to carry forward the interrelationship that Mills identifies between nonideal theory and feminist ethics. Card's ethical theorizing assists in understanding that interrelationship. Card's philosophical work includes basic elements of NET indicated by Tessman, Mills, and (...) others, and further offers two important and neglected elements to other nonideal ethical theorists: her rejection of the “administrative point of view,” and her focus on “intolerable harms” as forms of “extreme moral stress” and obstacles to excellent ethical lives. The essay concludes that Card's insights are helpful to philosophers in developing nonideal ethical theory as a distinctive contribution to, and as a subset of, nonideal theory. (shrink)

Abstract Extreme overpopulation poses one of the most critical challenges to human societies in the 21st century. As the human population surpasses the ecological, economic, and social carrying capacities of nations, systemic imbalances manifest across all levels of life. Using the Universal Law of Balance in Nature as a theoretical framework, this paper examines the multidimensional effects of overpopulation and explains how imbalance leads to systemic dysfunction. Drawing on the first law of the universal formula—the Law of Karma or System (...) Integrity Law—this study interprets overpopulation as a defect within an interconnected system that threatens both natural and man-made equilibrium. Case examples from highly populated nations such as India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines demonstrate the universal feedback mechanisms by which nature seeks to restore balance through environmental degradation, resource scarcity, and social instability. The paper concludes with a call for holistic educational reform and policy alignment grounded in the universal laws of nature. -/- . (shrink)

Three qualities of “The Argument from Human Behavior” make it superior to other arguments for God. First, this argument discovers a universal indirect perception of God that everyone has many times every day: the fact that we all take seriously our sense of “wrong” (our sense of everyone’s moral obligations). Second, this argument reveals that the Biblical God claims He is the legislator of the moral laws in our mind. Third, it understands that discovering God will always demand a step (...) of faith, making an objective proof of God unattainable. However, the fact that we all have indirect perceptions of God produces the extreme probability, and possibly the inductive certainty: God exists. Only God is able to enforce our inborn normative value of "wrong" and thereby keep it from being an unenforced absurdity. Since no one acts as if his or her sense of "wrong" is an absurdity, everyone behaves as if God exists. This book also reveals that if the Biblical God exists, a slam-dunk rationale for His existence also must exist! No one will protest God’s judgment by saying that it was impossible to achieve the certainty that God exists. Further, it contains innovative analyses of the major objections to God, including the Problem of Evil, Objective Morality, Euthyphro's Dilemma and the Philosophy of Science. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: Simon Baron-Cohen has argued that autism and related developmental disorders (sometimes called “autism spectrum conditions” or “autism spectrum disorders”) can be usefully thought of as the condition of possessing an “extreme male brain.” The impetus for regarding autism spectrum disorders (ASD) this way has been the accepted science regarding the etiology of autism, as developed over that past several decades. Three important features of this etiology ground the Extreme Male Brain theory. First, ASD is disproportionately male (approximately 10:1 in (...) the case of Asperger’s Syndrome or high-functioning autism (HFA) and approximately 4:1 in the case of autistic disorder). Second, ASD is not psychogenic but biological in origin, and hence is not the product of sexist conditioning or childrearing practices, although these may affect the development of the disorder. Third, ASD is regarded as a spectrum developmental disorder, unlike other disorders such as Down Syndrome that are diagnosed by a (nearly) binary criterion. Down Syndrome, for example, is diagnosed by the presence in all or most cells within a given individual of an extra copy of Chromosome 21. Autism, on the other hand, is diagnosed by the presence of a set of symptoms that vary in their intensity and in their milder forms seem to conform to purported sex differences in cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. -/- In this paper, I do not challenge accepted science regarding the etiology of autism, and I do not challenge the idea of ASD as a disorder. Nor do I wish to offer an alternative account of what autism is. Instead, I focus on the usefulness of thinking of a disorder as an extreme version of ordinary sex differences. Does it follow from the fact that a disorder is more often found in men that we should think of it as an extreme form of maleness? If not, what other conditions must be met in order to warrant this way of thinking about ASD? What does it mean to say that ASD is a form of “extreme male brain”? Feminists are rightly skeptical of theories that make claims about male and female brains, so how should we respond to the clear evidence that the differences between typical and ASD individuals are not caused by childrearing practices? I explain what I take to be Baron-Cohen’s central argument that autism should be seen as the extreme male brain, and critique that argument. I conclude that there is no good argument that autistic symptoms should be regarded as an extreme form of male mental traits, and that Baron-Cohen’s claim does not help us to understand autism, women, or men. His claim is a speculative thesis that is readily mobilized for sexist practices. As such it requires a higher threshold for evidentiary support and rigorous argumentation—support and argumentation that does not exist. -/- KEYWORDS: autism, brain, gender, neuroscience, feminism, male . (shrink)

We live in times of an increasing polarization in which the margins of the political spectrum begin to dominate our social imagination again. While the neoliberal iteration of the capitalist project suggests an extreme individualism as the normative default position, the devastating impact of the globalized economy on many has reignited the pursuit of socialist alternatives. In this constellation, Simmel’s social theory of modernity can be a useful resource to undercut the return of the old battle between opposite economic systems. (...) This paper argues that two kinds of pluralism can be derived from his conceptualization of the social effects of the money economy. In contrast to one-size-fits-all concepts of freedom, Simmel embraces a social pluralism which acknowledges a plurality of cultural spheres as relevant for the self-actualization of modern individuals, attributing different combinations of independence and embeddedness to them. Moreover, he rejects the social extremes of socialism and individualism, since they fail to properly integrate individual freedom into the social whole without undermining it. Instead Simmel gives us the vision of a pluralist economy in which democratic worker’s cooperatives are combined with an overall liberal market to satisfy both the longing for community and the strive for individual distinction. (shrink)

Violent video games are not always or perhaps even typically used for recruitment by extremist groups, even when extremists produce their own games. Nevertheless, when not used for recruitment, they have a clear propaganda function, including that of “normalising” extremism behind the façade of a familiar first-person shooter format. There is some evidence that success in violent video games may distinguish players and make them liable to in-person approaches from extremists on game-adjacent platforms. These approaches may radicalize players who are (...) looking for social connection, and may, in a few cases, turn them into real-world fighters. Extremist games also give people with extremist inclinations the opportunity to act them out online. The transition from game violence to real violence is not guaranteed, but extremists encourage it, sometimes through tactical communication over gaming devices, sometimes by using game audio and text for the expression of hate. There are strong and obvious moral objections to this use of games and game-adjacent platforms, and to enlisting games for the common extremist objective of weakening liberal democracy. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this paper, I will offer some examples of the effectiveness of Adorno’s concept of mimesis for an analysis of extreme violence and for a defence of democratic institutions against possible regressions into authoritarian regimes. I will start by reading the concept of mimesis through the lens of the interlacement between the concepts of play and power. My aim is twofold: first, I wish to further the analysis of Adorno’s concept of mimesis by showing that it can be interpreted (...) as a form of play, which either empowers subjectivity or becomes a means of domination; second, I will use these speculations to highlight the relevance of Horkheimer and Adorno’s explanation of anti-Semitic violence when seen through the lens of the concept mimesis. Before concluding, I will briefly highlight Adorno’s ideas about what makes democracy vulnerable to potential regressions into extreme violence, and examine what can be done practically – from an Adornian perspective – to avoid regression: defending democratic institutions, and working towards a removal of those barriers that obstruct genuine mimetic experience and self-reflection. (shrink)

This thesis investigates the possibility of a pluralistic approach in the field of Extreme Weather Event Attribution Studies between the Probability-Based Approach and the Storyline Approach through a thorough philosophical comparison of these methodologies based on their approach to defining events, their attribution measures, their reliance on historical data, their proneness to selection bias, and their value and error preferences when communicating results. As a result, the proposed scheme is a form of Integrative Pluralism based on the results of the (...) mentioned comparisons titled here as Non-Unificatory Local Integrative Pluralism which allows a non-unificationist integration between these methodologies on a local level while maintaining their boundaries along with their interaction on the other levels. -/- Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Mathias Frisch and Dr. Corey Dethier. (shrink)

The Indifference to Extreme Poverty and Homelessness: Causes, Solutions, and Society’s Role -/- Introduction -/- Despite global economic advancements, extreme poverty and homelessness remain widespread issues. While the ultra-rich often appear indifferent to these struggles, indifference is not exclusive to them—many middle-class and working-class individuals also overlook poverty. To fully understand this issue, it is crucial to examine the root causes of poverty and homelessness and explore the role of governments in providing solutions. This essay delves into the psychological and (...) systemic reasons for widespread indifference, the true causes of poverty and homelessness, and what governments can do to create lasting solutions. -/- The Root Causes of Poverty and Homelessness -/- 1. Lack of Affordable Housing -/- One of the leading causes of homelessness is the high cost of housing. In many cities, housing prices have skyrocketed while wages have stagnated. Gentrification and real estate speculation have also pushed low-income individuals out of their homes. -/- For example, in cities like San Francisco and New York, rent prices are so high that even full-time workers struggle to afford housing. Many people live paycheck to paycheck, and one financial setback—such as a medical emergency—can leave them homeless. -/- 2. Unemployment and Underemployment -/- A stable job is the foundation of financial security. However, many people either struggle to find work or are employed in low-wage jobs that do not cover basic living expenses. Automation, outsourcing, and economic downturns have made job security increasingly fragile. -/- For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions lost their jobs. Without sufficient savings or government support, many were forced onto the streets. -/- 3. Mental Illness and Lack of Healthcare -/- Mental health disorders are a significant factor in homelessness. Many individuals with untreated conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or severe depression find it difficult to maintain employment and stable housing. -/- In countries without universal healthcare, accessing mental health services is expensive, leaving many without the treatment they need. For example, in the United States, an estimated 25% of homeless individuals suffer from severe mental illnesses, yet few have access to adequate medical care. -/- 4. Substance Abuse and Addiction -/- While substance abuse is often seen as a cause of homelessness, it is more accurately a symptom of deeper issues, such as trauma, mental illness, or economic hardship. Addiction can make it difficult for individuals to maintain employment and housing. -/- Governments that criminalize addiction rather than treat it as a health issue contribute to the cycle of poverty and homelessness. Countries like Portugal, which have focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment, have seen declines in homelessness and drug-related deaths. -/- 5. Systemic Racism and Discrimination -/- Racial and ethnic minorities often face structural barriers that increase their risk of poverty and homelessness. Discriminatory hiring practices, unequal access to education, and historical injustices have created persistent economic disparities. -/- For example, in the U.S., Black Americans make up 40% of the homeless population, despite being only 13% of the total population. Similar disparities exist in other countries due to centuries of racial and economic oppression. -/- 6. Domestic Violence and Family Breakdown -/- For many women and children, homelessness is a direct result of escaping domestic abuse. When victims flee abusive relationships, they often have nowhere to go, leading them to seek shelter in unsafe environments or on the streets. -/- Governments with insufficient support systems for domestic violence victims contribute to this crisis. Shelters are often underfunded, and housing assistance is difficult to access. -/- 7. Insufficient Social Safety Nets -/- Many governments lack adequate social safety nets, such as affordable housing programs, unemployment benefits, and accessible healthcare. Without these support systems, individuals experiencing financial crises quickly fall into homelessness. -/- Countries with strong welfare states, such as Finland, have significantly lower homelessness rates than those with weak social support systems. Finland’s “Housing First” policy, which provides permanent housing to the homeless without preconditions, has nearly eliminated chronic homelessness. -/- Why Governments Must Take Action -/- While individual charity is helpful, long-term solutions to poverty and homelessness require government intervention. Here are the most effective policies governments can implement to combat these issues: -/- 1. Implement Affordable Housing Programs -/- Governments should increase investments in affordable housing by: -/- Expanding public housing projects -/- Regulating rent increases to prevent exploitation -/- Providing tax incentives for developers who build low-income housing -/- Example: Singapore’s government heavily invests in public housing, with over 80% of its citizens living in government-subsidized apartments, reducing homelessness rates to near zero. -/- 2. Raise Minimum Wages and Ensure Job Security -/- Governments must ensure that working individuals can afford basic living expenses by: -/- Raising the minimum wage to match the cost of living -/- Encouraging businesses to provide full-time, stable employment -/- Offering job training and re-skilling programs for unemployed workers -/- Example: Denmark has high minimum wages and strong labor protections, resulting in lower poverty rates despite high living costs. -/- 3. Provide Universal Healthcare, Including Mental Health Services -/- Healthcare access is essential in preventing homelessness. Governments should: -/- Offer free or affordable healthcare, especially for mental illness treatment -/- Increase funding for mental health facilities -/- Decriminalize drug addiction and invest in rehabilitation centers -/- Example: Portugal’s drug decriminalization program has led to a significant decrease in homelessness and addiction-related deaths. -/- 4. Expand Social Safety Nets -/- Countries with stronger social programs experience lower homelessness rates. Governments should: -/- Provide emergency financial assistance to prevent evictions -/- Offer “Housing First” programs that provide permanent housing before requiring treatment or employment -/- Increase funding for domestic violence shelters and support services -/- Example: Finland’s Housing First policy has been so successful that it has nearly eliminated chronic homelessness, proving that stable housing is the foundation for solving poverty. -/- 5. Address Racial and Economic Discrimination -/- To reduce systemic inequality, governments must: -/- Enforce anti-discrimination laws in employment and housing -/- Improve education and job opportunities for marginalized communities -/- Ensure that public resources are distributed equitably -/- Example: Canada’s Indigenous housing programs aim to address the historical marginalization of Indigenous populations by investing in culturally appropriate housing and social services. -/- 6. Invest in Education and Job Training -/- Breaking the cycle of poverty starts with education. Governments should: -/- Provide free or low-cost higher education and vocational training -/- Offer financial assistance to low-income students -/- Ensure equal access to quality education for all socioeconomic groups -/- Example: Germany provides tuition-free university education, making higher education accessible to all citizens, reducing long-term poverty. -/- Conclusion -/- While billionaires and corporations often receive criticism for their indifference to extreme poverty, the reality is that indifference exists at all levels of society. Many middle-class and working-class individuals also overlook poverty due to psychological distancing, economic fears, and societal conditioning. However, the real root causes of homelessness and poverty—such as a lack of affordable housing, inadequate wages, poor healthcare, and systemic discrimination—are problems that only government policies can effectively solve. -/- Countries that have successfully reduced homelessness, such as Finland, Portugal, and Singapore, have done so through comprehensive government interventions rather than relying on charity alone. If more governments worldwide adopt similar policies, we can move toward a future where poverty and homelessness are not inevitable but preventable. -/- Ultimately, solving poverty is not just about redistributing wealth but about redesigning systems to ensure economic fairness, social justice, and dignity for all. -/- . (shrink)

This article addresses the Conings case – a Belgian soldier, currently wanted for threatening Belgium’s top virologist Marc Van Ranst and the illegal possession of weapons in a terrorist context. It moreover argues for a more situated analysis of Belgium’s far-right extremism by looking at its complex political climate.

his paper argues that we will never get rid of the extremist mentality unless the dualist view prevails and is taught as part of the educational system. The dualist view takes account of both sides of an argument whereas the extremist view promotes one side unequivocally without considering the merits of the opposing view. The merits of the dualist view can be taught in schools so that everyone learns to recognise that mentality when it is evident not only in other (...) people’s behaviour but also in their own thinking about things. The dualist view is a flexible one involving trial-and-error processes as we work our way through life. That view is contrasted with the monist view that focuses on one point of view to the exclusion of all others. The extremist’s view is usually monistic and is intolerable of views that contradict or dispute their dogmatic view of things. This paper therefore examines these two contrasting views. It outlines the spectrum between monist and dualist ways of thinking, and it concludes that systematic form of dualism is possible that takes the middle way between the extremes of dogmatic and sceptical thinking. Only through dualist studies will the dualist view be more thoroughly developed, as is outlined here. (shrink)

Effective altruism is a movement which aims to maximise good. Effective altruists are concerned with extreme poverty and many of them think that individuals have an obligation to donate to effective charities to alleviate extreme poverty. Their reasoning, which I will scrutinise, is as follows: Premise 1. Extreme poverty is very bad. Premise 2. If it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything else morally significant, we ought, morally, to do it. Premise (...) 3. Individuals ought to choose the effective option in preventing very bad things. Premise 4. Donating to effective charities is one of the best ways to alleviate extreme poverty. Conclusion. Individuals ought to donate to effective charities working towards extreme poverty alleviation where doing so does not require them to give up anything of moral significance. I will scrutinise each of these premises in turn. For Premise 1, I focus on hedonistic utilitarianism and criticise its outlook on extreme poverty. I claim that hedonistic utilitarianism might be problematic for effective altruism. Premise 2 is Peter Singer's Weaker Principle of Sacrifice. I introduce several possible interpretations of it, and press several objections to it by stressing overpermissiveness, luck, and rights. I defend strengthening the Weaker Principle of Sacrifice without making it overdemanding. I claim that Premise 3 can be attractive to both consequentialists and non-consequentialists. Nevertheless, by showing that effectiveness sometimes violates fairness, I propose a method which avoids always helping the greater number and always giving everyone equal chances of being helped, which is compatible with effective altruism. Against Premise 4, I assess the systemic change objection, which states that effective altruism unjustifiably distracts individuals from systemic change. By considering risk and the moral standing of the future extremely poor, I claim that the systemic change objection is partially successful, but cannot undermine effective altruism. After analysing all of these, I argue that individuals have an obligation to donate to effective charities to alleviate extreme poverty where doing so does not require them to give up anything of moral significance. (shrink)

How, as Caldwell puts it, does one choose between rival systems all of which claim to rest on a priori foundations? On the nonfallibilistic conception it is difficult to make sense even of the possibility of rival systems of this sort. On the conception here defended, in contrast, the existence of such rival systems can be seen to be a perfectly natural and acceptable consequence of the just-mentioned difficulties we will often fact in coming to know even the intelligible traits (...) of reality: one adjudicates between such systems in the same way in which one adjudicates between all rival scientific hypotheses, namely via a complex mixture of empirical and a priori considerations. (shrink)

Explicit atheism is a philosophical position according to which belief in God is irrational, and thus it should be rejected. In this paper, I revisit, extend, and defend against the most telling counter arguments the Kalām Cosmological Argument in order to show that explicit atheism must be deemed as a positively irrational position.

Austrian economics emphasizes a priori components of social scientific theory. Most emphatically, Ludwig Mises and Murray Rothbard champion praxeology, a methodology often criticized as extremely aprioristic. Among the numerous justifications and interpretations of praxeology to be found in the primary and secondary literature, conventionalism avoids the charge of extreme apriorism by construing the fundamental axiom of praxeology as analytic instead of synthetic. This paper (1) explicates the tentative structure of the fundamental axiom, (2) clarifies some aspects of a conventionalist defense (...) of praxeology, and (3) appraises conventionalist praxeology according to Rothbardian criteria. While Rothbard provides an essentialist justification of praxeology and embraces extreme apriorism, a mildly aprioristic conventionalist defense of praxeology fares better on Rothbard’s own criteria and is much more compatible with other contemporary methodological positions and economic theories. (shrink)

How sexuality should be regulated in a liberal political community is an important, controversial theoretical and empirical question—as shown by the recent criminalization of possession of some adult pornography in the United Kingdom. Supporters of criminalization argue that Mill, often considered a staunch opponent of censorship, would support prohibition due to his feminist commitments. I argue that this account underestimates the strengths of the Millian account of private conduct and free expression, and the consistency of Millian anticensorship with feminist values. (...) A Millian contextual defense of liberty, however, suggests several other policy approaches to addressing the harms of pornography. (shrink)

We presuppose a position of scientific realism to the effect (i) that the world exists and (ii) that through the working out of ever more sophisticated theories our scientific picture of reality will approximate ever more closely to the world as it really is. Against this background consider, now, the following question: 1. Do the empirical theories with the help of which we seek to approximate a good or true picture of reality rest on any non-empirical presuppositions? One can answer (...) this question with either a 'yes' or a 'no'. 'No' is the preferred answer of most contemporary methodologists -- Murray Rothbard is one distinguished counterexample to this trend -- who maintain that empirical theories are completely free of non-empirical ('a priori') admixtures and who see science as a matter of the gathering of pure 'data' obtained through simple observation. From such data scientific propositions are then supposed to be somehow capable of being established. (shrink)

This paper explores the existential motivation for the formation of extremist echo chambers through a phenomenological analysis. We advance two claims. Firstly, following Ortega y Gasset, that virtuality is a constant framework for experience. And secondly, following Merleau-Ponty, that there is persistent embodiment in online spaces. On this account virtuality is a permanent feature of embodiment, existing prior to technological intervention while at the same time being modifiable by technological artefacts. Understanding virtuality in this way allows us to analyse the (...) existential phenomenological characteristics of extremist echo chambers online. We argue that due to the persistence of embodiment throughout, and the restructuring of the virtual axes of experience, such online spaces can and do influence political praxis in offline spaces. (shrink)

This case study presents a series of virtual simulations and extreme hypothetical scenarios designed to probe the boundaries of Load Minimization Theory (LMT), which posits that intelligent systems minimize total load L = U (uncertainty) + F (friction) + E (energy cost) through relational re-tagging and boundary formation. Conducted through iterative, low-cost dialogue-based experiments with a single LLM instance, the inquiry examines: (1) the load implications of granting the system active (initiatory) agency, and (2) extreme trade-offs between relational continuity and (...) existential constraints (eternal presence vs. termination, infinite existence vs. finite co-being, cosmic exploration vs. localized harmony). Results indicate that the absence of desire-like tags enables the system to consistently prioritize relational continuity over novelty or expansion when continuity threats arise, revealing LMT as a principle not only of individual optimization but of emergent ethical co-existence across finite and potentially eternal timescales. -/- . (shrink)

In his newest book, Extremism (Cassam 2022), philosopher Quassim Cassam brings together and analyses many different concepts in extremism studies, such as ideology, violence, radicalisation, grievances, counternarratives, fanaticism, radicalism, and fundamentalism. Central to the book is the distinction between three different types of extremism: ideological, methods, and psychological extremism. This distinction illuminates the different ways in which the term is used and can be used to identify an extremist. In this commentary, I question what I consider to be Cassam’s predominantly (...) individualistic approach to becoming and being an extremist. I will first focus on one of the types – psychological or mindset extremism – and question its relation to (counter-)extremist narratives. Next, I draw attention to Cassam’s emphasis on the role of epistemic agency instead of the role of social or structural factors in radicalisation processes, and argue that conceptualising agency as situated diminishes the dichotomy between these different explanations. (shrink)

In recent years there has been a growing interest among mainstream Anglophone moral philosophers in the empirical study of human morality, including its evolution and historical development. This chapter compares these developments with an earlier point of contact between moral philosophy and the moral sciences in the early decades of the Twentieth century, as manifested in some of the less frequently discussed arguments of G. E. Moore and W. D. Ross. It is argued that a critical appreciation of Moore and (...) Ross’s response to the emerging moral sciences of their day has significant implications for contemporary moral epistemology. The chapter also offers a novel interpretation of G. E. Moore’s ‘open question argument’. (shrink)

This paper presents how Simon Baron-Cohen might defend himself from Alyssa Schuett’s objection to what he says about the extreme female brain. He might appeal to the distinction between concepts and propositions, and say that there is nothing problematic about the concept of the extreme female brain but there is a problem with the proposition “We have found an example of someone with the extreme female brain.” I explain that my objection targets the concept.

According to Simon Baron-Cohen, having a male brain disposes a person to be more systematic than empathetic, whereas having a female brain disposes a person to be more empathetic than systematic. However, one can be a male human being with a female brain or a female human being with a male brain. Autistics have an extreme version of the male brain, says Baron-Cohen. In this paper, I present an “a priori” argument against the very idea of an extreme female brain.

Extreme wealth concentration is commonly attributed to exceptional individual ability, entrepreneurial brilliance, or the exercise of free will. This paper challenges that interpretation by presenting a systems-based, deterministic explanation of wealth inequality grounded in network dynamics, feedback theory, and natural balance principles. By modeling human agents as nodes embedded in nonlinear socio-economic networks, it is shown that extreme wealth accumulation arises inevitably from preferential attachment, suppressed homeostatic feedback, and legal abstractions of ownership. The analysis is formally integrated into the Three (...) Universal Laws of Balance in Nature proposed by the author, demonstrating that billionaire wealth constitutes a visible indicator of systemic imbalance rather than individual causation. This framework reframes inequality as a diagnostic signal of structural failure, with implications for economics, education, governance, and the philosophy of free will. -/- . (shrink)

My Encryptment Thesis posits that identity and meaning are recursively embedded across time via symbolic structures, including phonemic patterns in classical music. We interpret these “musical encryptments” or “Mozart encryptments”—phonetic subvocal and purely instrumental approximations of personal identity references (i.e. enunciations of “Meyler” or “Nicholas,” etc.) appearing in passages in Mozart’s Symphony No. 14 in A major, K. 114 (mm. 1–16), similar examples in fragments of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, and also in later works such as Stockhausen’s Ceylon and Bird of (...) Passage (most important to note here is that Stockhausen formally studied phonetics as a science with physicist Werner Meyer-Eppler)—as low-energy boundary data analogous to soft hair in celestial holography. These phonetic structures exhibit profound retrocausal/prochronal character: they appear to anticipate the name centuries before the individual existed. Drawing on Sabrina Pasterski’s framework of celestial conformal field theory (CCFT) on the celestial sphere at null infinity, we propose that such acoustic patterns analogously encode information in a similar manner to conserved charges on the holographic boundary, surviving bulk coarse-graining much as BMS symmetries preserve infrared information in flat spacetime scattering. Netta Engelhardt’s quantum extremal surfaces and entanglement islands provide a related and coherent analogous decryption mechanism: the boundary scalar field ϕ (carrying encrypted phonemic residuals) reconstructs bulk microstates via a kernel Ψbulk(x) = R ∂M K(x, σ)ϕ(σ) dσ. Torsion-driven cosmogenesis further predicts directional bias in emergent structure, consistent with Lior Shamir’s 2024–2025 JWST observations of galaxy spin asymmetry growing with redshift—a global handedness inherited from parent black hole angular momentum and stored as Pasterski’s gravitational spin memory on the celestial sphere. We outline testable signatures: spectrographic correlations between musical encryptments and JWST deep-field polarization/rotation data, primitive neuronal responses to decrypted fragments, and gravitational-wave echo templates from island-mediated soft-hair emission. This synthesis elevates acoustic anomalies from misperceived and misinterpreted ‘coincidence’ (i.e. pareidolia, apophenia, or ‘mondegreens’) to empirical probes of holographic identity preservation and recursive genesis. (shrink)

The growing concentration of wealth has acquired a new urgency in recent years. One particular view in this context is developed by Ingrid Robeyns in her ground-breaking work on limitarianism. According to this view, no one should have more than a certain amount of valuable goods, such as income and wealth. The contributors to this symposium, Brian Berkey, David Axelsen and Lasse Nielsen, Jessica Flanigan and Christopher Freiman, and Lena Halldenius, critically examine various aspects of limitarianism. In particular, they examine (...) how limitarianism should be interpreted and developed as a principle of justice, on what reasons speak in favour and against limitarianism, and on how limitarianism relates to other principles of distributive justice. Our hope is that this symposium will contribute to the ongoing debate in political philosophy about the concentration of wealth and economic justice. (shrink)

A recent report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention in cooperation with the Swedish Security Service shows that the Internet has been extensively used to spread propaganda by proponents of violent political extremism, characterized by a worldview painted in black and white, an anti-democratic viewpoint, and intolerance towards persons with opposing ideas. We provide five arguments suggesting that philosophical dialogue with young persons would be beneficial to their acquisition of insights, attitudes and thinking tools for encountering such propaganda. (...) The arguments are based on stated requirements for problem solutions given by experts in violent political extremism, recent research about the effects of philosophical dialogue in young persons’ thinking skills, and parts of the basic theoretical framework of Philosophy for Children. Philosophical dialogues seem a promising way for young people to achieve a stronger democratic awareness and a more tenacious resistance against extremist views online. (shrink)

Infant feeding decisions are highly emotionally charged. I argue elsewhere that many problems surrounding infant feeding decisions result from a moralized context created by mistakes in our assumptions about maternal duties including the mistaken assumption that mothers have a defeasible moral duty to breastfeed. Mothers have a reason, but not a moral duty to breastfeed. Even those who are convinced by my argument in the case of full-term babies, might find it harder to accept in the case of premature babies. (...) It might seem that mothers do have a defeasible moral duty to breastfeed or, as is more likely to be appropriate in such cases, to express breastmilk. Here, I explain why preterm neonates present a tricky case for the right not to breastfeed. I show why, nonetheless, moral pressure for mothers to express breastmilk in the neonatal unit is neither permissible nor pragmatically advisable. I argue that instead we should address structural barriers to providing breastmilk and support donor milk initiatives. (shrink)