Every president, Democratic or Republican, simply works on the supposition that it's better to keep jobs in America than let them go to Mexico.

The fact that something can be used for good isn't necessarily a knockdown argument for it.

I am never going to write about dogs again. You can write about Islam, you can write about sexuality, but no, not dogs.

Traditionally, psychology has been the study of two populations: university freshmen and white rats.

You might argue on utilitarian grounds that the best way for the world to work is for everybody to take care of themselves first. And people have made that argument. But I just think we would be so much better off if we could care for distant others even a little bit more.

Philosophers have often looked for the defining feature of humans — language, rationality, culture, and so on. I'd stick with this: Man is the only animal that likes Tabasco sauce.

The irrationality of disgust suggests it is unreliable as a source of moral insight. There may be good arguments against gay marriage, partial-birth abortions and human cloning, but the fact that some people find such acts to be disgusting should carry no weight.