The Greeks, according to Cassius: “They are an arrogant people, I’ve always found. I remember one of them telling me they had invented everything, from gods to sex. I pointed out that Romans took their ideas and improved upon them. Ares became Mars, Zeus became Jupiter. And of course, although we could not improve on […]
Cassius on Roman versus Greek superiority Read More »
[Humor alert: When I last taught Contemporary European Philosophy, I offered this alternative final exam.] Contemptible European Philosophy Dr. ShicksAlternative (Reality) Exam 1. Identify the correct choice. Jean-Paul Sartre was a(n):a) Existentialist.b) Essentialist.c) Excellent way to put yourself to sleep.d) Guy who knew how to have his way with the ladies. 2. “Why does the
Contemptible European Philosophy — exam questions Read More »
Traditional sex roles have it that the woman looks after the family hearth, tending the cooking and raising the children, while the man goes off to hunt and fight. Many explanations can be offered for these assigned roles, but to my knowledge Sigmund Freud has the most, uummmm, interesting explanation for why men are not
The best footnote ever: Freud on putting out fires Read More »
Thus spake Friedrich: “Kant’s joke. — Kant wanted to prove, in a way that would dumbfound the whole world, that the whole world was right: that was the secret joke of this soul. He wrote against the scholars in favor of popular prejudice, but for scholars and not for the people.” Nietzsche, *The Gay Science*,
Kant’s joke, according to Nietzsche Read More »
Happy to announce the results of a new project to take Joyce’s famous Ulysses and render it safe for modern readers. The 732-page book was published in 1922 before standards of appropriate language were known and enforced. So for this centennial edition, a team of readers was commissioned to bring this historically and literarily important
James Joyce’s *Ulysses* edited for sensitive readers Read More »
Reprising this from when I read Deirdre McCloskey’s fascinating, intriguing, and wonderfully learned The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce (University of Chicago Press, 2006). Early on McCloskey cites three statistics about progress between 1800 and now: Wealth: “The amount of goods and services produced and consumed by the average person on the
Why life is 255 times better now than in 1800 Read More »
Refreshing this story from Francis Kane, professor of philosophy and former colleague of Professor George Walsh at Salisbury State University, in a eulogy delivered November 21, 2001. The phone rang one Friday afternoon (I’ll never forget): “Fran, I’m going to be fired!” “George, you’re not going to be fired.” “Yes, I am! Something horrible has
Professor Walsh gives an “A” to a Jain monk Read More »