"Cancel Culture." If you’re extremely online or plugged into the discourse at all, your blood pressure probably spiked just upon reading those two words. The topic’s heat-to-light ratio is heavily skewed to heat. A recent open letter in Harper’s, signed by over 150 public intellectuals of the centrist, liberal, and leftist variety, warns of excessive and growing 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 …
Stop Using the President’s Name. Just Call Him “That Asshole.”
I quote Confucius, Analects 13.3 (from this online version): Zi Lu said: 'The ruler of Wei is anticipating your assistance in the administration of his state. What will be your top priority?' Confucius said, 'There must be a correction of terminology.' Zi Lu said, 'Are you serious? Why is this so important?' Confucius said, 'You are really simple, aren't you? A noble Continue Reading …
A Solution to the Crisis of “Fake News”
After the November election, it was determined that the nation was in the grip of a crisis of “fake news” centered around an uncontrolled new media (consisting of blogs, social networks, and other sources that bypass traditional “real news” outlets) delivering false information that threatens to not just dupe the public, but lead us into a “post-truth” age. It would be Continue Reading …
Critical Voter
During the last Presidential election, I noticed a trend in philosophy columns, like one I was enjoying in the New York Times, where philosophical concepts and arguments were brought to bear on political opinions that seemed already set in Stone (sorry about that). For instance, when the President fumbled during the first debate in 2012 (which shocked many, given Obama’s Continue Reading …
It’s OK to Vote Solely Against (Political Parties Are Coalitions, not Factions)
Per Wes's election post, not voting because you don't like the available options fails to grasp the reality of our situation. There are plenty of principled rationales for ruling out both candidates, and you may think that not voting, or voting for a third-party candidate, will send some kind of message that the system is too flawed for you to dirty your hands with. There are Continue Reading …
Presidential Pragmatism
In a recent column in The Stone, Harvey Cormier considers the political oomph of pragmatists through a nice presentation of some central thinking of William James. The occasion for the piece is a recent spate of writings characterizing Obama as "a pragmatist politician." What I like best about Cormier's article is his refutation, through James, of the lame but pervasive Continue Reading …
Bertrand Russell on Aristotle’s Politics
http://youtu.be/tsNmIid70HU Listen on YouTube. Like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate. Even so, Bertrand Russell's prose is entertaining enough to make this audio chapter on Aristotle's Politics a worthwhile supplement to Continue Reading …
Topic for #60: Aristotle’s Politics
Aristotle's Politics (from around 350 B.C.E.) is presented as a follow-up to his Nichomachean Ethics (which we discussed in a previous episode). Actually, we're not sure in what order these were composed, and the Politics is internally repetitious enough that it is probably itself mashed together from different original sources; those that are into that kind of thing can read Continue Reading …
If I Were a Rightie
Recent political events have driven me to either reject the citizens of my country as a bunch of morons or find it within me to empathize with them in some way, so in the spirit of Kierkegaard's pseudonyms which he used to explore other viewpoints and with a tip of the hat to Schopenhauer the pessimist (whom we'll be reading after K.), I'm driven here to imagine what kind of Continue Reading …
Christian Realism and Holy War
"Christian Realism" -- even Christians ought to struggle with David Brook's latest invention. How delightful to juxtapose other-worldliness and practicality! But to really understand it, replace "Christian" with "love" and "Realism" with "War." Meaning, "I love war, but I wage it only out of love." It's almost a self-parodying confirmation of Nietzsche's critique of the human Continue Reading …
Episode 3: Hobbes’s Leviathan: The Social Contract
Discussing Hobbes's Leviathan, Chapters 13-15. Have we implicitly signed a social contract whereby our native right to punch other people in the face is given to the President? Hobbes does things that eventually result in the U.S. Constitution and makes Wes nauseous. Plus: Star Trek and the Bible! Buy the book or read it online End song: "The Villa" by Mark Lint and Continue Reading …
Episode 3: Hobbes’s Leviathan: The Social Contract
Discussing Hobbes's Leviathan, Chapters 13-15. Have we implicitly signed a social contract whereby our native right to punch other people in the face is given to the President? Hobbes does things that eventually result in the U.S. Constitution and makes Wes nauseous. Plus: Star Trek and the Bible! Buy the book or read it online End song: "The Villa" by Mark Lint and Continue Reading …