The Thought Experiment Tier List

I love a philosophical thought experiment, and I love a tier list. So today we are going to rank some of the most famous thought experiments in history. Thank you so much to the friend who was kind enough to send me his list to react to.Uploaded 17-08-26Support me on Patreon here (you lovely person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSubscribe to my Substack here for more of my writings: https://josephfolley.substack.com/00:00 Mary's Room10:27 Ship of Theseus16:01 The Teleporter Problem25:55 Utility Monster33:10 Euthyphro Dilemma38:06 Russell's Teapot43:22 Fake Barn Country51:45 Are you a Brain in a Vat?58:46 Wittgenstein's Beetle in a Box1:07:17 Chinese Room Argument Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Head to https://squarespace.com/unsolicitedadvice to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code UNSOLICITEDADVICEUploaded 15-02-26An article went viral last year from British Vogue, called “Is Having a Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?”. And amongst all the cries about how love is embarrassing now, I wanted to ask whether this is anything new. Is it instead the case that love has always been embarrassing? I think so, and I would like to say why.Support me on Patreon here (you lovely person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSubscribe to my Substack here for more of my writings: https://josephfolley.substack.com/Links:Is having a boyfriend embarrassing now: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/is-having-a-boyfriend-embarrassing-nowThe Rise of the Highfivesexuals https://open.substack.com/pub/cartoonshateher/p/the-rise-of-the-highfivesexuals?r=2ohjsz&utm_medium=ios00:00 Boyfriends, Girlfriends, and Shame09:31 Love has Always Been Embarrassing22:07 The Independence Obsession Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Head to https://squarespace.com/unsolicitedadvice to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code unsolicitedadviceUploaded 17-07-24The Problem of Evil is one of those questions that has stayed with philosophers and philosophy as a whole for millennia. It can be summed up in a single statement: why would an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God allow evil to exist in the world? And this all raises one question: is God evil?Support me on Patreon here (you wonderful person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSign up to my email list for more philosophy to improve your life: https://forms.gle/YYfaCaiQw9r6YfkN700:00 Theodicy and Theology01:58 The Problem(s) of Evil07:11 Good Beyond Pleasure and Evil Beyond Pain12:14 Divine Command Theory18:31 The Incomprehensibility of God Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The self-help and self-improvement community have skyrocketed in popularity over recent years. Yet almost everything they tend to say was already recommended, and in some ways improved upon, by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. So get ready to have a look at the only self-help book worth reading: The Nicomachean Ethics.Uploaded 07-03-24Sign up to my email list here: https://forms.gle/76bsCwWhKVryzPBR7Support me on Patreon (you lovely person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link00:00 Ancient Greek Self-Improvement01:35 A Matter of Habit06:06 Intellectual Virtues10:51 Ego, Community, and Happiness14:40 Taking the High Road Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When The Matrix was released in 1999, it sparked a brand new way to express an old philosophical problem - a sceptical scenario. So let’s dive into the world of scepticism, the simulation hypothesis, and more, to see what they consist of, and how we might be able to refute them.Uploaded 20-04-24Support me on Patreon here (thank you you wonderful person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSign up to my email list for more philosophy to improve your life: https://forms.gle/YYfaCaiQw9r6YfkN700:00 The Simulation Hypothesis01:27 A Sceptics Guide to Scepticism05:15 "Stuff Obviously Exists"10:49 The Contextualist16:46 Brains in Vats and "Brains" in "Vats" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I invited my good friend Alex O'Connor (@CosmicSkeptic) onto the channel to talk about the biggest unanswered questions in philosophy, as well as what he has changed his mind on in the past decade on YouTube. I hope you enjoy!Uploaded 23-01-26Support me on Patreon here (you lovely person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSubscribe to my Substack here for more of my writings: https://josephfolley.substack.com/00:00 What have you changed your mind on?16:28 Why do we need to know what the mind is?22:15 What is Idealism?42:17 What is Truth?57:30 The Split Brain Experiments1:04:28 Is Panpsychism just Physicalism?1:09:45 Is the Universe God?1:21:59 Where do our atheist-theist debates go wrong?1:31:36 How do you respond to Thomas Aquinas?1:47:09 How to get in the head of a philosopher?1:52:09 What is the best idea you encountered last year?1:57:45 We're doing a show together! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Franz Kafka is one of the most brilliant yet anxious writers of the 20th century. And in his "Letter to my father" he outlines exactly where his fear of other people comes from. Here he outlines both his troubling relationship with his father Hermann, and gives a masterclass on the origins of his social anxiety, and social anxiety in general. So here is why Kafka hated people.Uploaded 09-07-24Support me on Patreon here (you wonderful person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSign up to my email list for more philosophy to improve your life: https://forms.gle/YYfaCaiQw9r6YfkN700:00 A Letter to His Father01:39 Judge, Jury, and Executioner09:27 A Crumpled Map16:18 Permanent Scars22:31 Gratitude, Fear, and Guilt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn for free on Brilliant for a full 30 days: https://brilliant.org/Unsolicitedadvice/ . You’ll also get 20% off an annual Premium subscription.Uploaded 10-04-26The way we talk about books online has been bothering me for a while, and I wanted to talk a bit about it. We'll be talking a bit about ragebait, a bit about snobbery, and a bit about literacy, and we'll try to paint a slightly different way forward.Support me on Patreon here (you lovely person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSubscribe to my Substack here for more of my writings: https://josephfolley.substack.com/00:00 Literary Ragebait10:20 The Origin and Variety of Snobs23:40 The Capture of Value35:45 The Worship of KnowledgeThis video is sponsored by Brilliant Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first 500 people to use my link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare https://skl.sh/unsolicitedadvice05241Uploaded 16-05-24Over the years a consistent claim has emerged from both some theists and some atheists that morality is untenable without the existence of a God. But is this true? Today I will explore three variants on the position that "Atheists have no morals" to see which ones hold water and which are simply unfounded assumptions.Support me on Patreon here: https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSign up to my email list for more philosophy to improve your life: https://forms.gle/YYfaCaiQw9r6YfkN7Papers cited:For claim that people harbour a distrust of atheists: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22059841/Benefits of group camping trips: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1348050/fullRelationship between religious attendance and generosity (an example of pro-social behaviour): https://news.gallup.com/poll/122807/religious-attendance-relates-generosity-worldwide.aspxA paper questioning the relationship between atheism and pro-sociality. and the correlation sometimes found: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22925142/For Investigations between the religiosity of societies and their levels of anti-social behaviour: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Society-without-God-Religious-Contentment/dp/0814797237Relationship between prosociality and religion: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38407059/#:~:text=years%20of%20research-,Religiosity%20predicts%20prosociality%2C%20especially%20when%20measured%20by%20self-report%3A,doi%3A%2010.1037%2Fbul0000413.On Atheists being more interested in consequentialist ethics and Theists being more interested in Group Cohesion: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246593Article on Moral Anti-Realism: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-anti-realism/00:00 God and Morality01:20 "Atheists are Bad People"07:57 "Morality Needs God"14:09 The Atheist's Conundrum19:09 Post-Theistic Morality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like anyone, I have favourite books, and many of them are classics. And I sometimes like to go on Goodreads and read one star reviews of them, to torment myself a little. Today, I will share this with you.Uploaded 01-03-26Support me on Patreon here (you lovely person): https://patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_linkSubscribe to my Substack here for more of my writings: https://josephfolley.substack.com/Lord of the Rings Song: https://youtu.be/I3g6mFI4Fug?si=XVzH4kNs4ENVsQhg00:00 Wuthering Heights07:42 No Longer Human13:10 Pride and Prejudice20:49 The Idiot24:33 The Apologia30:54 The Lord of The Rings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices