On Abortion
↑ A pro-life protestor at my undergraduate campus at UBCO, whom I had a conversation with A Utilitarian Defence of Abortion Category: Theory; Tags: Abortion, Ethics The morality of abortion is first and foremost a philosophical question about intrinsic value (before it is a question of bodily autonomy, socio-economic impact, or law). To determine whether abortion […]
Military Training
Yes, that boy at the bottom left is me. I Hate Military Training Category: Life; Tags: China, childhood, military training, reflection Today, I was reading the memoir Useless Violence by Nazi concentration camp survivor Primo Levi. The book describes how Nazi concentration camps were filled with seemingly pointless violence and torture. For instance, despite warehouses […]
Snowpiercer
Reflection on Snowpiercer Category: Theory; Tags: assignment, political philosophy In Snowpiercer, Mason, justifying feudalism on the train, claimed that it is natural for each person to stay in their assigned position, just like shoes belong to the feet and hats should be on the heads (although later plot proves that rebellion can be natural as […]
Directing Envolution
Directing Evolution: A Utilitarian Defence of Human Genetic Engineering Category: Theory, Tags: Genetic Engineering, Ethics, Essay It is part of our biology that we can transcend our biology. —Ronald de Sousa Introduction New technologies like CRISPR gives new possibilities for human genome. Human genetic composition—once seemed natural and unalterable—is increasingly under our rational and scientific […]
The Confidence Cult
The Dead End of Confidence Culture and Body Positivity Category: Contemporary, Tags: Confidence, Culture, Essay Introduction Nowadays, confidence is viewed as a crucial and empowering personal quality that everyone should work to possess. A recent example is the trending concept of body positivity which promotes a self-affirmation and self-appreciation of one’s physical body as beautiful. […]
China’s Educational Involution
The Prisoner’s Dilemma Of Chinese Education: Examining Educational Involution in China Category: Contemporary, Tags: China, Education, Essay Introduction It is well documented that Chinese underage students experience enormous stress from academic competition. A survey from Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Report on National Mental Health Development in China (2019-2020) using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression […]
Is Incest Wrong?
Ending the Stigmatization: Rethinking Anti-incest Ethics and Law Category: Theory, Tags: Incest, Ethics, Law, Essay With the ongoing inclusion of more sexual minorities into the LGBTQ+ community, the Western world has accepted many sexual “deviants” who were once seen as being intolerable and detrimental by society. However, despite meaningful progress, one sexual minority is hardly […]
Voter Examination
A Case For Epistocracy: Voter Education and Examination Category: Theory, Tags: Voting, Democracy, Epistrocracy, Essay 1 Introduction John Stuart Mill, an influential economist and philosopher in the nineteenth century, argued that democracy enlightens, empowers, and activates the public, making them smart and conscientious compared to the people living under authoritarian governments, who are commonly dumb […]
Properly Doing Minority Report
Properly Doing Minority Report? On Thought Crime and Predictability Category: Theory, Tags: Ethics, Law, Essay In this essay, I argue that perpetrators of unfinished/discontinued crimes due to external contradictions can and should be charged as if their crimes are completed as long as it can be reasonably proven that the crimes would have been completed […]
Politicizing Human Rights
Politicizing Human Rights: On the Moral Deficiency of Human Rights Rhetoric Category: Theory, Tags: Human Rights, International, Essay Introduction Human rights have been popularized as the fundamental and inalienable moral standards in the West. However, how and why did such a seemingly vague and simple principle become increasingly specified and what is the role history […]