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… Read More ›
aristotle
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,… Read More ›
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… Read More ›
A meditation on the character of a political speaker and, by extension, a voter (Oct. 31/20 with Nov. 15/20 addendum)
Loosely put, rhetoric is the art of persuasion. More specifically, on Aristotle’s definition, rhetoric is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” We all use rhetoric to convince others of some thing or other,… Read More ›
Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Plato’s Tent Revival. (scroll down)
The Light of Pure Reason ‘Well, that is what I call the child of the good’, I said. ‘The good has begotten it in its own likeness, and it bears the same relation to sight and visible objects in the… Read More ›
6.2.c.i. The Political Rhetor and The Future. Future Generations: The end of ‘my’ world versus the end of ‘the’ world.
In this entry, I examine a broad swath of the conceptual territory underpinning future generations. Since this topic is particularly content-dense, I’ve decided to break this blog entry into several posts under a few different subheadings. Before reading on, I… Read More ›
Aristotle and Pam on The Political Rhetor. Series. 6.1. Intro.
“The political orator* aims at establishing the expediency** or the harmfulness of a proposed course of action; if he urges its acceptance, he does so on the grounds it will do good; if he urges its rejection, he does so… Read More ›
The Political Rhetor and the Future. 6.2.a. The Poor.
If you haven’t read 6.1, I recommend you do so before reading 6.2.. 6.2. has turned into quite a lengthy project. So, I’ve broken it down into 6.2.a. The Poor, 6.2.b. Children, and 6.2.c. Future Generations. Subsequent posts in this… Read More ›
Five Human Commonalities. Intro by Thomas Hobbes.
Intro. We are equally vulnerable. Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind, as that, thought there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body or of quicker mind than another, yet when all… Read More ›
pam-mentations.com 