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Ep. 313: Mozi’s Political Ethics (Part Three for Supporters)

March 25, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth reconvene for a second session to pull specific quotes out of the Mozi. We discuss his arguments against fatalism and Confucianism, his three criteria for evaluating arguments (origin, validity, and consequences), his support for meritocracy ("honoring the worthy") and identifying with your superiors, and the Will of Heaven chapter. Listen to parts  Continue Reading …

Ep. 313: Mozi’s Political Ethics (Part Two for Supporters)

March 19, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Continuing from part one on the central Mohist text, with guest Tzuchien Tho. Was Mozi really only concerned with material well-being? Is the lack of this well-being why people act badly? We talk more about Mozi's arguments against elaborate funerals and music (and art in general). Plus, we look at Mozi's words against war and whether his defense of some past wars makes  Continue Reading …

Ep. 313: Mozi’s Political Ethics (Part One for Supporters)

March 19, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On the central Mohist text, collecting the teachings of Mozi (aka Mo Tzu), from the Chinese Warring States period around 430 B.C.E., with guest Tzuchien Tho joining Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. The full book is very long, so we used the portions translated by Burton Watson in his Mo Tzu: Basic Writings (1963). Tzuchien was previously on our Confucius (aka Kongzi) episode, and  Continue Reading …

Ep. 312: The Dao De Jing on Virtue (Part Two for Supporters)

March 5, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Concluding our discussion of the Daodejing with guest Theo Brooks. This continues directly from part one, but you should really start with ep. 311. Sections covered in this part of the discussion include: Next episode: We're reading another figure from the Chinese Warring States period: Mozi, specifically the Basic Writings selected and translated by Burton Watson.  Continue Reading …

Ep. 312: The Dao De Jing on Virtue (Part One for Supporters)

March 5, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Our second full discussion on the Daodejing by Laozi. What actions and attitudes characterize the Daoist sage? Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, Seth, and Theo Brooks. Listen to ep. 311 first. In this part of the discussion we cover these chapters: Image by Charles Valsechi. Editing by Tyler Hislop. Continues with part two.  Continue Reading …

Ep. 311: Understanding the Dao De Jing (Part Two for Supporters)

February 18, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Continuing from part one with guest Theodore Brooks on the central Daoist text attributed to Laozi. We start with more discussion of practical vs. metaphysical interpretations of the first chapter. In either case, Laozi recommends not being too self-conscious; you want to be fully present in your activities, open to the subtle cues of your environment, without too much  Continue Reading …

Ep. 311: Understanding the Dao De Jing (Part One for Supporters)

February 18, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

The Daodejing (or Tao Te Ching) from around 500 BCE, attributed considerably after its production to Laozi (or Lao Tzu according to an older but still prevalent style of transliteration; it just means "old master") is the fundamental text of Daoism (Taoism), but what they hell does it mean? Well, it depends on which of its hundreds of translators you ask. We selected the  Continue Reading …

Ep. 310: Wittgenstein On World-Pictures (Part Two for Supporters)

February 4, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Concluding our discussion of On Certainty, with guest Chris Heath. Listen to part one first. We spend more time with quotes from the book and try once again to figure out what Wittgenstein's philosophy of science is. We finally fill out Wes' take on conspiracy theories and how they relate to this text. How do people actually get convinced to change their minds about their  Continue Reading …

Ep. 310: Wittgenstein On World-Pictures (Part One for Supporters)

February 4, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

We continue picking at Ludwig Wittgenstein's On Certainty (written 1951), with Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth now supplemented by guest Chris Heath, who is a guy who's very into philosophy of science who runs a Discord philosophy server. This is really the fourth discussion in this series; we recommend you start with ep. 307 on G.E. Moore, or at least ep. 309 where we started  Continue Reading …

Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part Two for Supporters)

January 21, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Continuing our discussion from part one of On Certainty (1951), we do some close reading of the text. How does he actually respond to Moore's argument about his hand? How does he extend his account to talk about mathematical and scientific statements? Is Wittgenstein a pragmatist? You may want to review our episode on William James' pragmatist definition of truth. We  Continue Reading …

Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part One for Supporters)

January 21, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Discussing the notes Ludwig Wittgenstein made at the end of his life in 1951 that were published as On Certainty in 1969, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. These were in direct response to the essays by G.E. Moore that we discussed in episodes 307 and 308, so we talk about the status of so-called "Moorean propositions" like "physical objects exist," "the world is more  Continue Reading …

Ep. 308: Moore’s Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part Two for Supporters)

January 8, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

Continuing from part one, we quickly complete our treatment of G.E. Moore’s "Proof of the External World" (1939) and move on to consider "Certainty" (1941). In the latter paper, Moore considers various "obvious" statements about his current situation (in my case now: I am writing this, I am sitting down, I have fingers, I am in my house on earth, etc.). These are all  Continue Reading …

Ep. 308: Moore’s Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part One for Supporters)

January 8, 2023 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On G.E. Moore’s "Proof of the External World" (1939) and "Certainty" (1941), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Similar to the essay we covered in our last episode, Moore is defending common sense realism against idealists who claim that the external world is not mind-independent but is instead made up of ideas, and also skeptics who claim that we can't know (or know with  Continue Reading …

Ep. 307: G.E. Moore Defends Common Sense (Part Two for Supporters)

December 24, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Continuing from part one on "A Defense of Common Sense" (1925), now down to Mark, Wes, and Dylan. We get into the nitty gritty of Moore's argument: Against idealism, Moore argues that physical facts are in now way dependent on mental facts; for instance, the existence and position of the moon don't depend on anyone's beliefs about the moon. Reality is mind  Continue Reading …

Ep. 307: G.E. Moore Defends Common Sense (Part One for Supporters)

December 24, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On "A Defense of Common Sense" (1925), featuring Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan. Various philosophers will tell you that the only thing you experience is your own ideas, and hence the world outside of your mind is something wholly unknowable, or if it is knowable, it must be because those supposedly physical objects are actually somehow ideas as well. Moore defends our  Continue Reading …

Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part Three for Supporters)

December 18, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

Concluding on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2021) Supreme Court decision. We talk more about the rationale for the decision and in particular the dissent by Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan. How do the arguments made play into philosophers' fears about the tyranny of the majority in democracies? Is democracy the best and only way to protect our rights, or can  Continue Reading …

Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part Two for Supporters)

December 10, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Continuing from part one on Ronald Dworkin's "Unenumerated Rights: Whether and How Roe Should be Overruled" (1992) and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2021) decision featuring guest Robin Linsenmayer. Dworkin thinks that the distinction between enumerated and unenumerated rights really doesn't make sense. All legal language is vague and requires  Continue Reading …

Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part One for Supporters)

December 10, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Does the U.S. Constitution guarantee the right to an abortion? Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth are joined by lawyer/sister Robin Linsenmayer to discuss Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2021) and Ronald Dworkin's "Unenumerated Rights: Whether and How Roe Should be Overruled" (1992). We previously considered Dworkin's take on what judges do when law is ambiguous.  Continue Reading …

Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” (Part Three for Supporters)

December 4, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

To conclude our discussion of Blood Meridian, we talk about the roles of maturation and regression in the novel. Plus, more on Judge Holden's philosophy and how our view of this should be affected by the fact that Holden is a hypocritical child molester, the (small) role of women in the novel, the character of the idiot, "white man's burden," and more. Do you think we  Continue Reading …

Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” (Part Two for Supporters)

November 26, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

Continuing from part one on McCarthy's 1985 novel, we discuss whether the plentiful, explicit violence in the book is actually gratuitous or whether it's central for presenting the book's philosophy. What makes the book supposedly unfilmable? We then focus on the details of Judge Holden's philosophy. He posits that war is the purpose (the telos) of man. Man is essentially a  Continue Reading …

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