Philosophy

June 28, 2024

Whenever two people “desire the same thing[s]” … compare Aristotle and Hobbes.

I present the following two quotes (Aristotle and Hobbes, respectively) for comparison, without analysis. Aristotle Book II, Chapter IV Friendship and Enmity, 1381b 15 And [we also feel friendly] towards those who are like ourselves in character and occupation, providing they do not get in the way or gain their living from the same source… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric

aristotle, co-operation, competition, desire, Hobbes, negotiation, Philosophy, policy, political, rhetoric, war
April 1, 2023

Saturday Morning Pam-Toons. Retrieving Your “Lived Experience” From the Baggage Reclamation Centre.

This Pam-toon was inspired by two curiosities. I wondered how coherent it would be for an amnesiac to recount her “lived experience” of her forty years as a member of a marginalised group. And I wondered, given the following vignette, about the reliability of a non-amnesiac’s report of her own “lived experience.” A friend’s daughter… Continue reading

Pam-Toons, Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

baggage, belonging, cartoon, cherry picking, ethics, foto, graphic, identity, lived experience, memory, moral myopia, myopia, myopic, pencil, photograph, remember, sketch
October 14, 2021

What, if anything, is wrong with MSNBC, CNN, and FOX? (Part 1 of 2)

My other half habitually surfs through a number of national and international news channels in the evenings. Our house is small, so I’m captive to whatever noise emanates from these rotating broadcasts. Sometimes this noise really gets under my skin. Such as? Such as the current tabloid coverage of the Gabby Petito case by the… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

analyses, analysis, beliefs, CNN, critic, criticism, determinants of health, divisions, doxa, doxastic, emotion, entertainment, epistemology, Fox, health, hyper, hyper-partisan, information, informed, internet, media, MSNBC, natural selection, news, newspapers, opinion, partisan, Philosophy, political, postman, rhetoric, smartphones, social, stability, tabloid, television
April 30, 2021

The Lesser Known Logical Fallacies.

If you’ve ever taken a logic and critical thinking course, you’ll have learned about logical fallacies. Logical fallacies are patterns of bad reasoning that occur so often they’re given their own special names. Ad hominem arguments are directed at the person holding a position rather than at the position she holds. Ad populum or ‘bandwagon’… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric

argument, behaviour, critical thinking, fallacy, logic, logical fallacies, logicians, Philosophy, psychology, reasoning, rhetoric, social, strategy
April 30, 2021

Thought experiment: the last humans. (Thoughtlets. XL.)

Thought experiment. Imagine some cosmic event renders all humans sterile. After a number of decades pass, humankind literally enters a Golden Age, with an exclusively senior population. Although, ‘senior’ might lose its current meaning when the youngest among us is 64. I wonder if those in good health will resent the burden of care imposed… Continue reading

Philosophy, Thoughtlets

ageing, childhood, death, end of world, end times, environment, existential, human, meaning, population, rhetoric, senior, survival, sustainable, thought experiment
April 28, 2021

Thoughlets. XLIV.

Do you ever wonder what future generations will look like? Look in a mirror. You are the future generations of those who lived before you. And do you ever wonder what future future generations will think of you and your ilk? Well, since you are a future generation, and since, cf Hume, the future resembles… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Thoughtlets

children, descendents, empathy, environment, fore-bearers, future, future generations, generations, hypothetical, imagination, inference, judge, life, material conditions, mirror, myth, past, Philosophy, political, politics, prediction, present, relfection, rhetoric, subsist, sustainability
April 9, 2021

Hume on Persuasion.

In On War Carl Von Clausewitz says war is a continuation of politics by other means. Or cf. Foucault, who suggests this definition might be the inverted: politics is a continuation of war by other means. My interest is in the ‘other means’, which include political rhetoric. Broadly defined, rhetoric is “the power of observing the means… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric

aristotle, Hume, oratory, political, politics, rhetoric, Von Clausewitz, war
April 7, 2021

Some Problems with Complaisance.

If something doesn’t bother me, e.g. the F-word, why should I be bothered that it bothers you? Let’s start with friendship. As Aristotle notes, “[Friends are] those with whom we are on such terms that, while we respect their opinions, we need not blush before them for doing what is conventionally wrong…” (Aristotle. Rhetoric. Trans.… Continue reading

Philosophy, Social and Political Commentary

academic freedom, aristotle, boundaries, censorship, communication, complaisance, conversation, friends, friendship, Hobbes, impase, interpersonal, interpersonal stress, Law, Mao, negotiation, policy, professor, scholarship, stress, student, university
March 4, 2021

Why is Revenge Sweet?

I can’t imagine there’s a saint among us who’s never wished for a snappy comeback to an insult, never brooded on this failure of words, and never delighted by reimagining herself the victor when she finds them. If only I said … Ha! That would have been ssooooo good! Next time I’ll be ready. It’s… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric

aristotle, cosmic justice, fantasy, function, Hugo, Hume, indignation, insult, just desserts, justice, palliation, pleasant, revenge, righteous, schadenfreude, sweet, unpleasant
February 22, 2021

An example of beautiful prose in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan.

You’ve surely had that experience where you’ve set down your keys, or a phone number, or a bank card but can’t remember where. You turn your pockets inside out, rifle through the cushions on the sofa, search the crevices of your vehicle, call your friends … all to no avail. You’re on the verge of… Continue reading

Philosophy

canon, Hobbes, Leviathan, lost, memory, mind, phenomenology, Philosophy, prose, remember, search, seek