Just Questions

Today’s bonus episode is inspired by the hit show Severance! In it, we’ll unpack why the severance procedure is unethical from a philosophical perspective. This episode is spoiler-free and open to anyone interested in tough thought experiments, regardless of if you haven’t even heard of the show or if you’ve just finished the latest season finale.

Sources:

Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals

Is mercy a sign of strength or weakness? Of justice or injustice? Today’s episode tackles what mercy is and when we should show it. We’ll explore views from Seneca the Younger, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jeffrie Murphy to examine whether mercy is a virtue or a vice.

Timestamps:

Seneca — 3:47

Nietzsche — 10:44

Murphy — 16:14

Sources:

Special counsel slams Biden for pardoning son Hunter Biden

Biden faces backlash for granting pardon to son Hunter

Sen. Graham: Trump’s pardons for violent Jan. 6 rioters ‘was a mistake’

Concern, criticism grows over pardon of Jan. 6 defendants

Overview of Pardon Power

The History of the Pardon Power

On Mercy

Seneca Biography and Facts

On the Genealogy of Morality

Mercy and Legal Justice

In today’s episode, we’ll ask ourselves: why does privacy matter? Unpacking ideas from philosophers Shoshana Zuboff, Michel Foucault, and Hannah Arendt, we’ll look at three different answers to this question, and by the end, we’ll gain a greater understanding of what we lose when we give up our privacy.

Sources for this episode:

The Instagram Video: 

@hayleybaylee

The Tik-Tok Ban: 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/18/business/trump-tiktok-ban/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/article/tiktok-ban.html#:~:text=Lawmakers%20and%20regulators%20in%20the,and%20during%20the%20presidential%20election.

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268701/trump-executive-order-tiktok-ban

Shoshana Zuboff:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/shoshana-zuboff-q-and-a-the-age-of-surveillance-capital.html

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Age_of_Surveillance_Capitalism/lRqrDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Michel Foucault:

https://archive.org/details/foucault-michel-discipline-and-punish-the-birth-of-the-prison-1977-1995/page/205/mode/2up

Hannah Arendt:

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo29137972.html