Adding philosophical depth to anything and everything
Stop me if you’ve heard this one . . . “Philosophy began with the ancient Greeks.” Actually, let’s stop and talk about this. Let’s dig into deeper truths buried in history and beneath revisionist history. Bigger picture — let’s save learning in general and philosophy in particular. About Those Greeks Were there philosophers in Ancient Greece? […]
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(Public domain image) Beware of common wisdom. You, me, and pretty much everyone else for several centuries has been taught two untruths about the philosophy of René Descartes. Teaching and talking about philosophers’ ideas need to be connected with what the philosophers actually thought rather than repeating what commentators have said. […]
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Since the time of Francis Bacon in the 1500s, science had been defined by inductive reasoning. This inductive scientific method — still largely in use today — gathers observational data, develops hypotheses that match patterns in the data, verifies the hypotheses through more observation, and then settles on a theory from which science can […]
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“We’re from the Corporation, and we’re here to help.” (Source: Piqsels) I’ve wondered how best to understand AI. No, not the actual tech; AI is still just recursive computer programs and glorified search engines. I’m interested in the social fallout of AI marketing hype, the future of AI and the impending […]
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In May of 2023, a media relations manager for Taylor & Francis Group invited me to interview the author of a new book on artificial intelligence (AI). I read the book that the publisher sent to me, (free book! can’t beat that!) and I enjoyed its profound insights that exposed […]
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Corporatization is diluting higher education By a remarkable stroke of good fortune, I get to teach university courses online and live and travel wherever I want. Online instruction can never be as good as in-person classes, but online courses can be very good IF administrators and tech corporations don’t insert […]
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The two cursed cohorts have reached college and they are struggling In my two decades of teaching university courses, I’ve never seen more students have more struggles than in the last two years. That’s especially the case this current year. I have a suspicion as to why this is. One […]
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There’s comfort and satisfaction in feeling certain about something. Generally, we don’t like uncertainties. Knowing an answer, knowing what to do and how to do it, allows us to orient ourselves to our world and feel good about ourselves. As Augustine said, we know certain basic, simple answers, such as […]
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A symptom of a deeper malady (Source: Piqsels) What is hate? Most people would say it’s anger or prejudice. Those are good answers, but they only touch the surface. Hate isn’t just anger; it is different from a response to being wronged by someone. We’re talking about the kind of emotions […]
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William James (1842-1910), brother of novelist Henry James (1843-1916), was a medical doctor turned philosopher. William James literally wrote the book on psychology—The Principles of Psychology (1890)—establishing the field as a bona fide science. On philosophy, he was a pragmatist who followed Peirce and built on his work, bringing pragmatism […]
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