Adding philosophical depth to anything and everything
There are people who every day put out the same basic article: ”Republicans bad.” Oh, they toss invective at different Republicans about different things, but the message is the same shallow, tinny echo: ”Republicans bad.” That Republicans are bad will get no argument from me, but that’s the point. The […]
Read more
One year ago, yesterday, I did the initial episode of this podcast, entitled “Why This Podcast.” And yet, I don’t feel much like celebrating the one-year anniversary of the podcast because of events that happened then and now. Life is something that you plan, but other things happen, and I […]
Read more
Excerpts from How We Are and How We Got Here: A Practical History of Western Philosophy. British Reform Movement Significant developments in social philosophy and social reform took place in the United Kingdom in the 1800s. The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed a progressive series of laws beginning in […]
Read more
The words “woke” and “wokeness” have recently entered the political lexicon. These words puzzle me as to what they mean and why people use them. “Woke” and “wokeness” are used mostly, if not exclusively, as an insult. They are used mostly, if not exclusively, by the Right. In our current […]
Read more
I recently talked about the philosophy of democracy, and I am a philosopher; I’m not a political theorist; I’m not a political scientist. What that means is I look at what are the fundamental underlying issues related to political actions, political beliefs, rather than the nuts and bolts about politics. […]
Read more
Welcome to the insert philosophy here podcast. Inserting the principles of philosophy into real life. As I record this, it is less than three weeks from the United States Election Day. So on this week’s edition of the insert Philosophy Here Podcast, I want to talk about democracy, the concept […]
Read more
A sure sign of intellectual and emotional maturity is the ability and willingness to think beyond simplistic binaries. Alas, it is something that political extremists are unable or unwilling to do. How could people who claim to be anti-war and anti-imperialist end up supporting an imperialist war? Simple: when their […]
Read more
What Left and Right Mean: Clarifying the Political Spectrum Understanding the political spectrum and what motivates political actions have never been so vital. Politics is complex, and many political conflicts have considerable effects on our lives. We are all so used to the terms “left,” “right,” “liberal,” and “conservative” that […]
Read more
Video Lecture. Click to watch. Text Transcript below: What is Political Philosophy? The point I’m trying to make here is that when we talk about political philosophy is that we strangely aren’t talking about Politics. Politics we all have a certain sense of what that means, and it tends to […]
Read more
What IS America? What does it mean to be American? I ask these questions on July Fourth, a day when the United States commemorates its independence. That date and commemoration in itself is significant in it not being entirely true. The United States did not become independent on July 4th, […]
Read more