Introduction

How should we live? What are the fundamental components of a well-lived life?
Happiness? Financial success? Independence? Developing an accurate understanding of reality? Making a deep and sustained positive impact on the world? Should we care about future generations of people with whom we have no personal relationship? How much of our time and energy should we spend on people with whom we do not have a close friendship? Should we be living with an emphasis on the future or with an emphasis on the present?

What does it take to be a great leader? In this issue of THE QUESTION, we have six interesting guests to help get the discussion started.

Dr. Sharon Ryan (WVU Philosophy Chairperson and Creator of THE QUESTION) and Dr. JoNell Strough (WVU Psychology Professor and Coordinator of the Life-Span Developmental Program at WVU) sat down to dissuss “What is Intelligence?”

Can God Forgive?

Divine forgiveness is an important element in most major religions. But can a supremely perfect and divine being actually forgive? Forgiveness often involves learning new information, reversing a moral judgment about a person, changing one’s mind, or giving up on resentment. Those attitudes appear in conflict with a perfect God. It looks as though a perfect God could not forgive. Let’s take a close look at the argument against divine forgiveness and see if there’s any way to make sense of divine forgiveness. Please note that this puzzle is intended as a puzzle for a divine being who is: all knowing, all loving, all powerful, and wholly good. This puzzle is not aimed at imperfect deities.

On March 28, I (Sharon Ryan, creator of THE QUESTION) had a great time philosophizing with Ms. Ami Measer?s 9th grade English classes at Lancaster High School, in Lancaster, NY. (Lancaster is near Buffalo.) We discussed the following list of questions, and the class is going to blog in and share their ideas. Please share your own ideas in the blog!

Some people in the United States have the right to vote and some do not. Over time, some excluded groups, such as women and African-Americans, fought for the right to vote and won it.

What is love? Some people believe that loving and being loved are more important than anything else. But, what is love? Why are we willing to sacrifice so much for love? Is it love really all it is cracked up to be? What is the difference between love and friendship? Is love really more important than anything else? And, if none of these questions grab you, try this one: do you like Valentines Day?

Guest Editor – Trina Wafle – Associate Director of WVU National Research Center for Coal and Energy

Without giving it a passing thought, we expect energy?electricity, gasoline, natural gas, home heating fuel?to be available at our fingertips for mere dollars a day. If we were to take the time to really think about it, what would we say the true value of energy is? How does energy influence our own lives, our nation, our world? Are we locked into existing forms of energy or is there something better? How much would you pay to find out?

What is home? What do you think makes a place “home” for a person? What is the difference between a place you happen to live and a place you think of as home? Is it a history? Does it depend on other people? What is the relationship of home and family? Is home defined by an internal feeling or by external conditions?

Many people think it is wrong for athletes to take steroids to enhance their performance. This month, our question will lead to an analysis of what, if anything, makes steroid use bad. Is steroid use bad simply because steroids are banned from sports, and those who use steroids are cheating? Or, is there more to the story? Should steroids be banned from sports because there is something inherently wrong with using them? Are they too dangerous? Do the harms outweigh the benefits? Should individual athletes decide whether to take the risks of using steroids? (Boxing, playing football, and motorcycle racing are dangerous, yet we allow individual athletes to decide for them selves whether they wish to take the risk of participating in these sports.) Or, should steroids be flat-out banned from sports?