Adding philosophical depth to anything and everything
Philosophy in the real world.
Hannah Arendt is a philosopher who is very well known in continental philosophical circles. She remains fairly unfairly unknown outside of continental philosophy circles. Arendt is of course most famous for her book Eichmann in Jerusalem, A Report on the Banality of Evil. That book was her report of the […]
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Two blocks from my home in Prague is my local pub. Once a week on average, I take a little table in the corner, converse with the owner and bartenders, and have a nice burger and beer. It is a part of my life, a pleasurable, brief escape from my […]
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My most popular Medium article, at least for now, is “Buddhism Is Wrong.” It was inspired by my spouse who sent to me a video of a lecture from a Hollywood celebrity. The article received many great, thoughtful, and supportive comments. It also received some rude and insulting comments. The […]
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One of the few philosophers who is a household name, Socrates is famous for being a gadfly who was condemned to death. A citizen jury of Athens decided that Socrates deserved to die. Why? We must rely on Plato’s account in Apology to try to understand what happened and why. […]
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Deteething an old saw. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but that the fight continues still slightly mystifies me. The classic “problem of evil” is a philosophical quandary for religious people and a weapon for anti-religious people in their attack on religion. Whether the “problem” is an actual problem […]
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I heard there was some spectacle on one of the 24-hour “news” channels last night. It was some show where they handed Donald Trump a microphone and turned a camera on him. “Tortuous” was the description in one headline covering the ensuing car crash. As predictable as was Trump spewing […]
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As my readers know, I love philosophy and eagerly read as much as I can about it and write about it and promote it as much as I can. I don’t like sounding cynical, but even more, I dislike being dishonest. So, with apologies and regret, I have to sound […]
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I ran across this quote years ago and yesterday’s discussion with my students in ethics class brought it to mind. “Perspective shifts will unlock more than smartness will.” – Dr. Astro Teller There is wisdom in this quote, but like all wisdom, it has to go deeper than a slogan […]
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Government at the consent of the governed. It is a principle we assume today and demand. It was not always so. For centuries in the medieval and early modern era the dominant European philosophy of government was the “divine right of kings”—the idea dating back to Augustine that the monarch […]
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Do you remember Pet Rocks? You need to be older to remember them, but here’s a good history of them. The Pet Rock was the ultimate triumph of marketing over substance. The Pet Rock was a rock, just a plain rock, in a plain cardboard box labeled “Pet Rock.” I […]
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