Great Debates
This simple game-theoretic example illustrates that two rational individuals may not cooperate even when it would lead to a better result for both players.
What is the Prisoners Dilemma?
This philosopher is known for the foundational rationalist statement "I think, therefore I am."
Who was René Descartes?
This 1803 land purchase from France roughly doubled the size of the United States under President Jefferson.
What was the Louisiana Purchase?
In March 2026, President Trump suggested this Caribbean nation would be "next" after Iran, calling its political change "a question of time."
What is Cuba?
This is the power the Supreme Court claimed for itself in the landmark 1803 case Marbury v. Madison.
What is judicial review?
This famous dilemma originated in one of Plato's dialogues and has often been used as an argument against the existence of god. Both horns of the dilemma lead to unpleasant outcomes for the theist.
What is the Euthyphro Dilemma?
This economist wrote that the individual is "led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention."
Who was Adam Smith?
This 1862 executive order issued by Lincoln declared enslaved people in Confederate states to be free.
What was the Emancipation Proclamation?
In January 2026, the U.S. reportedly arrested the former leader of this South American nation, leading to a halt in oil shipments to Cuba.
What is Venezuela?
This 1954 Supreme Court case unanimously overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, ruling racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
What is Brown v. Board of Education?
This dilemma, originally found in the 1797 essay titled "On a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Motives," argues that truthfulness is an absolute duty regardless of the circumstances.
What is the Kant's axe murderer example, or the axe murderer case?
This East-Asian political leader declared that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."
Who was Mao Zedong?
In a dramatic 2017 Senate vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, this Arizona senator, and former presidential candidate, cast the decisive thumbs-down vote that killed the repeal effort at 2am.
Who was John McCain?
In April 2026, President Trump warned on social media that "a whole civilization will die tonight" if a deal was not reached regarding this strategic waterway.
What is the Strait of Hormuz?
This 2008 landmark Supreme Court case ruled for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep a firearm at home for self-defense, striking down a Washington D.C. handgun ban.
What is District of Columbia v. Heller?
This thought experiment, created by John Searle, is meant to push back against the idea that a computer can actually possess consciousness. The thought experiment does this by using a person or group of people to mimic the inputs and outputs of a computer.
What is The Chinese Room or Chinese Nation?
This European official warned that "from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."
Who was Winston Churchill?
This Reagan-era scandal revealed that administration officials had secretly sold arms to a Middle Eastern country and used the proceeds to fund Latin American rebel fighters, circumventing a congressional ban known by this name.
What was the Iran-Contra Affair / What was the Boland Amendment?
The four-person Artemis II crew flew aboard this Orion spacecraft, named by the crew themselves, on their nine-day lunar flyby mission.
What is Integrity?
This 2023 Supreme Court case struck down race-conscious admissions programs, effectively ending affirmative action in college admissions.
What is Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (and UNC)?
This famous thought experiment challenges the long-held epistemic view that knowledge is simply true justified belief. In most versions, the belief turns out to be true only by luck.
What is the Gettier Problem?
This author of Federalist No. 51 wrote "if men were angels, no government would be necessary."
Who was James Madison?
This 1992 standoff in rural Idaho between federal agents and a family led by Randy Weaver, resulting in the deaths of his wife, son, and a U.S. Marshal, became a rallying point for the anti-government militia movement.
What was the Siege at Ruby Ridge?
This former Nebraska Republican U.S senator, diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in December 2025 and given just months to live, has spent his remaining time hosting a podcast called "Not Dead Yet" and giving interviews about faith, mortality, and finding peace.
Who is Ben Sasse?
The Supreme Court officially abandoned the three-part Lemon Test for Establishment Clause cases in this 2022 decision involving a public school football coach who prayed at midfield.
What is Kennedy v. Bremerton School District?