pam-mentations.com

Social & Political Commentary, Philosophy, Satirical Cartoons

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, what you think of your fore-bearers might… 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 24, 2021

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Guest Post M. K. Sometimes Work Does Make Freedom.

In debates between energy and the environment, nuance is too often lost. See also, Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Retrain? Continue reading

Pam-Toons

building, coveralls, danger, drawing, economy, energy, environment, essential, foto, hard hats, human, industry, infrastructure, ink, jobs, logging, lumber, occupation, oil, pencil, people, photo, resources, safety, sketch, tools, woods
April 24, 2021

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. End of the Clapham Line. Guest artist M. K. (Repost Sept. 2020)

The Man on the Clapham Omnibus The ‘Man on the Clapham Omnibus’ is an hypothetical reasonable, ordinary person used in English law courts as a standard to judge the actions of real people in given situations — particularly to determine negligence or liability. For example, Would The Man on the Clapham Omnibus foresee that his… Continue reading

Pam-Toons

British, Clapham omnibus, Clsoham, Common law, Court, dark, Everymsn, humor, humour, Law, negligence, Omnibus, Philosophy, political, rational, reason, reasonable, social, Standard
April 10, 2021

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Footnotes to Plato.

The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. –A.N. Whitehead– Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, Gifford Lectures 1927-28, New York: The Free Press, 1973. Internet Archive, accessed April 10, 2021. Part II, Section I, Chapter I. For budding Phil-nerds, here is the… Continue reading

Pam-Toons

analytic, cartoon, continental, footnotes, foto, graphic, humor, humour, Philosophy, photo, Plato, sketch, Whitehead
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
April 3, 2021

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. So … what did you do?

So … what did you do? I broke the Law of the Excluded Middle. Continue reading

Pam-Toons

drawing, excluded middle, foto, graphic, humor, humour, LEM, logic, logician, pencil, philosopher, Philosophy, photo, proposition, satan, sketch, tautology
April 3, 2021

Thoughtlets. XLIII.

Never said in a fit of outrage: I could be wrong. Continue reading

Thoughtlets

deliberative, moral, morality, outrage, reflection
March 20, 2021

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. As Not To Be Weary of It. Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes, A.P. Martinich and Brian Battiste, Eds, Leviathan, Broadview, 2011. Part I, Chapter XIV, pp 128-129 Continue reading

Pam-Toons

choice, death, delectation, dignity, drawing, ethics, euthanasia, foto, Free Will, graphic, health care, Hobbes, Law, legal, Leviathan, life, medical, palliative, palliaton, pencil, photo, quality, right, security, sketch, suffering, survival, Thomas Hobbes, tired, voluntary