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Ep. 279: Aristotle’s “Categories” of Being (Part Two for Supporters)

October 9, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Continuing from part one on the Categories, we finish up our discussion of substance by talking about artifacts: Only "genuine unities" are substances, and hammers and cups, for Aristotle, don't count as such unities. Should being a cup be considered instead a property like being white? Can properties be complex? We're actually not sure about natural objects like rivers,  Continue Reading …

Ep. 247: Aristotle on Rhetoric and Emotions (Part Two)

July 13, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Continuing on the Rhetoric (ca. 335 BCE) book 1, ch. 1–6 and book 2, ch. 1–5, 18–24. We finish up with enthymemes (rhetorical arguments), maxims, and signs. We then move to emotions, where we chiefly talk about anger: Is it always a matter of status injury, or is frustration equally (or more) foundational? Begin with part one, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition  Continue Reading …

Ep. 247: Aristotle on Rhetoric and Emotions (Part One)

July 6, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Aristotle

On the Rhetoric (ca. 335 BCE) book 1, ch. 1–6 and book 2, ch. 1–5, 18–24. What role does persuasion play in philosophy? In Plato's Gorgias, Socrates condemns the sophists who taught rhetoric for merely endowing their students with social power over others, power that would make them neither happy nor virtuous. Philosophy should be about getting at the truth. Aristotle  Continue Reading …

Ep. 247: Aristotle on Rhetoric and Emotions (Citizen Edition)

July 6, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

Aristotle

On the Rhetoric (ca. 335 BCE) book 1, ch. 1–6 and book 2, ch. 1–5, 18–24. What role does persuasion play in philosophy? In Plato's Gorgias, Socrates condemns the sophists who taught rhetoric for merely endowing their students with social power over others, power that would make them neither happy nor virtuous. Philosophy should be about getting at the truth. Aristotle  Continue Reading …

Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Part Two)

May 18, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

Continuing on the Poetics from around 335 BCE, on the structure of plot (every element must be essential!), the moral status of the heroes, Homeric poetry, the difference between tragedy and history, and how Aristotle's formula may or may not apply to modern media. Wes maintains that tragedy does offer a unique, psychologically central benefit to us: Hanna Segal's "A  Continue Reading …

Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Part One)

May 11, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

These probably-lecture-notes from around 335 BCE are still used in screenwriting classes today: Aristotle serves up a formula for what will most move us, derived from Sophocles's tragedies like Oedipus Rex. What is art? Aristotle says it's mimesis (imitation), and fiction (poetry) is imitation of human action in particular, in a manner that shows us what human nature is all  Continue Reading …

Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Citizen Edition)

May 11, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

These probably-lecture-notes from around 335 BCE are still used in screenwriting classes today: Aristotle serves up a formula for what will most move us, derived from Sophocles's tragedies like Oedipus Rex. What is art? Aristotle says it's mimesis (imitation), and fiction (poetry) is imitation of human action in particular, in a manner that shows us what human nature is all  Continue Reading …

Combat & Classics #28: Aristotle’s “Politics” Bk. I, Part 4

June 5, 2019 by Sanya Kerksiek Leave a Comment

Jeff, Lise, and Brian continue a "close-read" series on Aristotle's Politics. They continue to tackle Aristotle's discussion of slavery, which raises questions about nature, law, and virtue. Get more C&C on the PEL site or at combatandclassics.org.  Continue Reading …

Combat & Classics #25: Aristotle’s Politics, Part 3

October 30, 2018 by Brian Wilson Leave a Comment

What is slavery? What does slavery have to do with the household or the state? Brian, Lise, and Jeff dig deeper into the Politics in part 3 of their discussion of this series. Get more C&C on the PEL site or at combatandclassics.org.  Continue Reading …

Combat & Classics #23: Aristotle Politics Bk. I, part 2

October 10, 2018 by Brian Wilson Leave a Comment

Man is by nature a political animal. Lise, Jeff, and Brian continue their conversation about Book I of Aristotle’s Politics, in which that famous line appears. They address Aristotle’s discussion of how a city comes to be, and his assertion that humans reach their full potential by living in a city. Get more C&C on the PEL site or at combatandclassics.org.  Continue Reading …

Combat & Classics #21: Aristotle’s Politics Bk. I

August 7, 2018 by Brian Wilson Leave a Comment

Jeff, Lise, and Brian roll up their sleeves and dig in to Aristotle’s Politics. How are this and other “Great Books” relevant to how we live our lives? What is good political rule? What does it mean to be “just” within a political system? What problems can politics solve? What problems can it not solve? The team tackles those questions and much more in this episode. Get  Continue Reading …

Science, Religion, and Secularism Part XII: Michael Allen Gillespie, Theological Origins of Modernity

November 30, 2017 by Daniel Halverson 4 Comments

In the previous two articles, we saw how two competing, perhaps contradictory, inheritances from Plato were absorbed into Christian theology. There was, on the one hand, the conception of God as self-sufficient, immovable perfection, which rendered the existence of the world of experience superfluous, and, indeed, problematic. On the other hand, there was the conception of God  Continue Reading …

Science, Religion, and Secularism Part VIII: Arthur O. Lovejoy, the Great Chain of Being

November 2, 2017 by Daniel Halverson Leave a Comment

In the previous article, we saw how geometry set the standard for knowledge in the world of ancient Greek philosophy, and how Christian theology emerged out of an effort to harmonize the very different traditions of Greek and Hebraic thought. Plato’s theory of the forms is perhaps his most famous contribution to philosophy, and requires no extensive discussion. But, as Arthur  Continue Reading …

Nothing So Absurd?

August 1, 2017 by Nicholas Joll 1 Comment

Introduction “There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.” So wrote Cicero.[1] The immediate occasion of his remark was the claim that it is wrong to eat beans. Cicero attributes this claim—as do other sources—to Pythagoras and his followers. The Pythagoreans held that eating beans disturbs not just the body but also the soul. Or so Cicero reports. A  Continue Reading …

Bojack Horseman and Aristotelian Self-Love

November 1, 2016 by Ana Sandoiu 1 Comment

The latest Wisecrack philosophy video takes on one of my favorite shows of all time: Bojack Horseman. Under the pretext of comedy, colorful animation, and talking animals, the Netflix original sneaks in heartbreaking moments of raw human vulnerability. Its main character—the eponymous Bojack Horseman—is a charismatic, depressed, washed-out actor who in his chaotic search for  Continue Reading …

Episode 148: Aristotle on Friendship and Happiness

October 3, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On the final books 8–10 of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. What does friendship have to do with ethics? Aristotle thinks that friends are necessary for the good life (i.e., eudaimonia or happiness, which is the goal of ethics), and that the only true friends, as opposed to those who merely entertain us or are useful to us, are virtuous people. They're the only ones who  Continue Reading …

Ep. 148: Aristotle on Friendship and Happiness (Citizen Edition)

October 2, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

On the final books 8–10 of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. What does friendship have to do with ethics? Aristotle thinks that friends are necessary for the good life (i.e., eudaimonia or happiness, which is the goal of ethics), and that the only true friends, as opposed to those who merely entertain us or are useful to us, are virtuous people. They're the only ones who  Continue Reading …

Episode 147: Aristotle on Wisdom and Incontinence

September 19, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 Comments

On the Nichomachean Ethics (ca. 350 BCE), books 6–7. Is intelligence just one thing? Aristotle picks out a number of distinct faculties, some of which are relevant to ethics, and he uses these to explain Plato's puzzle of how someone can clearly see what the good for him is, and yet fail to pursue it due to weakness of the will. This episode continues our discussion from  Continue Reading …

Ep. 147: Aristotle on Wisdom and Incontinence (Citizen Edition)

September 17, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On the Nichomachean Ethics (ca. 350 BCE), books 6–7. Is intelligence just one thing? Aristotle picks out a number of distinct faculties, some of which are relevant to ethics, and he uses these to explain Plato's puzzle of how someone can clearly see what the good for him is, and yet fail to pursue it due to weakness of the will. This episode continues our discussion from  Continue Reading …

Martha Nussbaum on Emotions, Ethics, and Literature

August 12, 2016 by Ana Sandoiu 12 Comments

Martha Nussbaum has been recently described as a "philosopher of feelings" and indeed, throughout her career, she has written on disgust, shame, desire, sex, patriotism, love, empathy, and most recently, anger. According to Nussbaum, there is ethical value in emotions, and we are wrong to ostracize them outside the sphere of philosophical relevance. Understanding our emotions  Continue Reading …

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