[This week in my Introduction to Philosophy course, we are reading Crito and discussing whether Socrates should escape or accept his death sentence. Here is a revisiting of an earlier post.] Socrates’ two bad arguments for not escaping In the Crito, Socrates is in prison awaiting execution for impiety and corrupting the youth. His impiety […]
Socrates in jail — escape or not? Read More »
More on philosophers’ mind-numbingly long sentences. My initial post with my top candidates is here. Kazuma Kitamura sends in a new contender — a 175 word plea from Chapter One of John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women: “If the authority of men over women, when first established, had been the result of a conscientious
Updating the Philosophy’s Longest Sentences competition Read More »
[At the beginning of the new academic year, a re-visiting of the beginnings of modern philosophy.] I vote for Francis Bacon. . . The standard answer gives the honor to René Descartes. Descartes’s claim to the title is based primarily on his epistemology — specifically his method of doubt. The method of doubt is both
The real father of modern philosophy — Bacon versus Descartes Read More »
[At the beginning of the new academic year, a re-visiting of the beginnings of philosophy.] The standard claim is that philosophy begins with Thales. When I teach this to my students, it’s a hard sell, for here are the founding texts in philosophy — ascribed to Thales by Aristotle: “The first principle and basic nature
The Birth of Philosophy — Thales and Homer Read More »
Professor Piotr Kostyło of Casimir the Great University in Bydgoszcz, Poland, published a review of Nietzsche and the Nazis. The text of the review follows: Do We Know What We Advocate? Stephen Hicks’s Defence of Individualism The forty-five years of communism in Poland (1944-1989) were marked by the government reminding society of the atrocities committed during
Piotr Kostyło’s review of *Nietzsche and the Nazis* Read More »
1924 was the 200th anniversary of the birth of German philosopher Immanuel Kant, and American philosopher John Dewey was writing a series of essays reflecting on philosophy and current events. The series was published in book form in 1929 as Characters and Events: Popular Essays in Social and Political Philosophy. Here are a few striking
John Dewey on Kant and the causes of World War I Read More »
Some quotations and brief glosses on Augustine’s views on the use of persecution and torture in order to save souls. “No salvation outside the church.” (418 CE) “[M]any must first be recalled to their Lord by the stripes of temporal scourging, like evil slaves, and in some degree like good-for-nothing fugitives.” Augustine had defended toleration
St. Augustine on “Righteous Persecution” Read More »
The standard claim is that philosophy begins with Thales. When I teach this to my students, it’s a hard sell, for here are the founding texts in philosophy — ascribed to Thales by Aristotle: “The first principle and basic nature of all things is water.” and “All things are full of gods.” You can imagine
Why Philosophy Begins with Thales Read More »