Introductory videos on abortion and ethics from YouTube now on TikTok

 A series of introductory videos on abortion from 2020 from YouTube is now on TikTok:

@nathan.nobis Defining "Abortion" Video 1 of 5. From a presentation 4 years ago about Thinking Critically About Abortion at www.AbortionArguments.com #abortion #prochoice #prolife #ethics #philosophy ♬ original sound - Philosophy 101 - Prof. Nobis

@nathan.nobis Question-begging arguments on abortion. Video 2 of 5. #abortion #prochoice #prolife #criticalthinking #fallacies #ethics #philosophy ♬ original sound - Philosophy 101 - Prof. Nobis

@nathan.nobis Common, "everyday" ethical arguments about abortion. Video 3 of 5. #abortion #prochoice #prolife #ethics #philosophy ♬ original sound - Philosophy 101 - Prof. Nobis

@nathan.nobis Some philosophical arguments against abortion. Video 4 of 5. Based on "Thinking Critically About Abortion" at www.AbortionArguments.com #abortion #prochoice #prolife #ethics #philosophy #criticalthinking ♬ original sound - Philosophy 101 - Prof. Nobis

@nathan.nobis Philosophical arguments that abortion generally isn't wrong. An overview of Thinking Critically About Abortion at www.AbortionArguments.com Part 5 of 5. #abortion #prochoice #prolife #ethics #bioethics #philosophy ♬ original sound - Philosophy 101 - Prof. Nobis

Peter Singer's Animal Liberation & Tom Regan's The Case for Animal Rights

Short video overviews of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation and Tom Regan's The Case for Animal Rights:

"Is Abortion Immoral?" on the Brain in a Vat podcast

"Is Abortion Immoral?" on the Brain in a Vat podcast

"Responding to Morally Flawed Historical Philosophers"

This is the third of a series of short philosophy talks organized by the Public Philosophy Network. Victor Abundez-Guerra discusses how we can respond to past philosophers whose views or behavior we find repugnant.

This presentation is based on is "Responding to Morally Flawed Historical Philosophers and Philosophies" by Victor Fabian Abundez-Guerra and Nathan Nobis in 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology.

"America's Unjust Drug War" by Michael Huemer: An 8 Minute Overview

"America's Unjust Drug War" by Michael Huemer is here: http://www.owl232.net/papers/drugs.htm

PPT slides:

Videos on Ethics and Animal Research

Videos on Arguments about Abortion

Here are some videos that review a PowerPoint presentation on arguments about abortion that was recently developed for teaching purposes; the slides are the bottom of the page. These are also posted at AbortionArguments.com.

Introduction and Defining Abortion:

Question-Begging Arguments about Abortion

Common, "Everyday" Arguments about Abortion:

Arguments that Abortion is Prima Facie Wrong:

Arguments that Abortion is Prima Facie Permissible and Conclusions:

PowerPoint slides:





These slides in PDF.

Writing Resources

Here are some of my posts and writings on better writing:

• "Why Writing Better Will Make You a Better Person" June 4, 2019, Chronicle of Higher Education by Bob Fischer and Nathan Nobis.
• Organization and Clarity in Writing: Seeing the Forest Through the Trees
• Writing Tips
• Essay Evaluation Sheet

Here is a new, imperfect video on writing philosophy with an emphasis on organization and structure; I'm new to making videos and this is really a first attempt:

Ethics and Extra Credit

Introduction to Ethics

Here I briefly sum up my basic goals and strategy in my Introduction to Philosophical Ethics course. 

My approach is: 

• interactive and discussion-based,
• skills-of-reasoning-focused, with the hope that students retain these basic skills and attitudes and apply them to future ethical questions, 
• built on a foundation of "data" -- concerning the reasons given about various issues -- gathered from everyday observations, asking people questions (informal surveys) and, potentially, internet research, and so
• not readings-based: most readings augment the process; they aren't essential. 

My overall goal is: 

• to show students that we can systematically reason about moral issues, and teach them how to do that, to develop their skills at doing that. Here's the summary:

See below for the details!

Moral Syllogisms

A video from a few years ago about moral arguments and the recently found PowerPoint file it is based on:

Simple Arguments

Some very simple arguments, to form into syllogisms:

1. Her shoes are new so they must be expensive.

2. He must drive a sports car; after all, he is having a mid-life crisis.

3. They are very sad because they lost their dog.

4. We should help poor people because we can.

5. Abortion is wrong since fetuses are living.

What's the conclusion of each argument? What's the stated premise? What premise to you have to add to make the argument a syllogism? 

Answers are below the "fold," but don't look until you try yourself.

A Video

Here is a video on arguments that I recently made, on the encouragement of our library. It came out longer than I expected, so I will soon be making a shorter version: