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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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)
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
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)
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
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 …