At times, people seem to hold to or accept ideas that actually conflict with each other.   Since thought has consequence, an educated and intelligent person should recognize these conflicts and sort them out.

When thinking about ethics, what does the term “deference” mean?

A person need not be religious to also be moral.  However,  in Western societies…

Theodicy is the term that expresses this question…

Some people accept the notion of Natural law as coming from God while others accept the notion of natural law without God as its source. 

Aquinas thought God’s laws were incorporated into nature.  This is the basis for his idea of ….

David Hume thought ……

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was heavily influential to northerners because it

A junior representative introduced this monumental amendment to an appropriations bill that stipulated that Congress had absolute authority to regulate slavery in the territories acquired from Mexico.

Southerners had no reason to feel that they were losing their political power because the Dred Scott decision forbade Congress from touching the issue of slavery.