Philosophy

March 8, 2025

Thoughtlets. LXII.

Since political rhetoric hooks up with mental states that move us in one direction or another, it’s a good idea to examine the conceptual baggage we lug around. Continue reading

Thoughtlets

concepts, mental states, Philosophy, rhetoric
March 8, 2025

The Political Rhetor and The Future. 6.2.c.i. Future Generations: The end of ‘my’ world versus the end of ‘the’ world.

To help you navigate political rhetoric. This post is largely analytic compared to the previous two research dense entries in this series. 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… Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

analytic, children, earth, environment, future, future generations, Philosophy, political, politics, rhetoric, stewardship, sustainability, world
March 7, 2025

The Political Rhetor and the Future. 6.2.b. Children

To help you navigate political rhetoric. This entry is a long read, but it’s quite interesting. (This post was originally published in 2020. I’ve done some light editing and ensured the links are active.) “Preparing for the future must begin, as always, with our children.” Children have little to no political voice. They can neither… Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

abortion, child, children, Clinton, concepts, enfranchisement, Hobbes, person, persons, Philosophy, political, politics, Reagan, rhetoric, rights of children, rights of the child, Thunberg, Trump, youth
March 7, 2025

The Political Rhetor and the Future. 6.2.a. The Poor.

To help you navigate political rhetoric. *updated from June 2020 for readability and to ensure active links See 6.1 Intro here. I’ve broken The Political Rhetor and the Future into: 6.2.a. The Poor; 6.2.b. Children; and, Future Generations 6.2.c.i. , 6.2.c.ii, & 6.2.c.iii. Subsequent posts in this series are: 6.3. Attainability of Ends; 6.4. Warnings;… Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

analyses, aristotle, class, Clinton, concepts, future, Malthus, Obama, oratory, perlocutionary, Philosophy, political, politics, poor, poverty, rhetoric, speeches, the poor, Trump, underclass
February 10, 2025

Thoughtlets. LXI.

This is why I think Hobbes is important: “And as in arithmetic, unpracticed men must, and professors themselves may often err and cast up false, so also in any other subject of reasoning, the ablest, most attentive, and most practised men may deceive themselves and infer false conclusions, not but that reason itself is always… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric

certainty, controversy, doxa, doxastic, epistemology, facts, Hobbes, Leviathan, opinion, Philosophy, reason, rhetoric, right, righteous, science, uncertainty, warrant
February 10, 2025

Thoughtlets. LX.

Bit by bit, I’ll be publishing from the draft of my Masters thesis, an account of belief acquisition and maintenance concerning not what we believe, but how we believe. An excerpt follows: One problem with evaluating scholarly claims, such as the consensus on climate science, is that most — and by far the vast majority… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric

authority, belief, decide, decision, doxa, doxastic, epistemology, evaluate, faith, Hobbes, Philosophy, rhetoric, sources, trust
January 28, 2025

What beliefs do for us. Aaron C.T. Smith

In his book, Cognitive Mechanisms of Belief Change, Aaron CT Smith, a cognitive scientist from Melbourne, Australia, provides a brilliant analogy to explain what beliefs do for us. Flock Theory, “In my estimation…beliefs follow the same kinds of rules governing flocks of birds…First, successful beliefs fit the rule of separation. Like birds in the flock,… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

Aaron CT Smith, aqusition, belief, cognitive science, doxa, doxastic, epistemology, flock theory, instrumental, Philosophy, social, theory
January 16, 2025

Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps), 4 of 4: What we stand to lose.

Recall my project here, Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps), 1 of 4 In the final instalment of this series, I lay a few bones (see 3 of 4) on the table for your consideration. I hope you find them as interesting as I do. “If the human race… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

belief, beliefs, CNN, community, cooperation, doxa, doxastic, epistemology, Fox, groups, knowledge, lonely, medias, mental health, MSNBC, news, opinion, Philosophy, rhetoric, social, social media, technology, tribe
January 16, 2025

Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps), 3 of 4: Building a model of the world is a community project.

Recall my project here, Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps), 1 of 4 Here I lay out some “bones” for thinking about the way — the why and the how — the people we depend on for our survival, delectation, and companionship (our peeps) help us navigate the world.… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

acquistion, belief, einstein, epistemology, evolution, groups, knowledge, peeps, Philosophy, religion, rhetoric, science, social, social epistemology, tribes
January 16, 2025

Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps) 2 of 4: Survival & Companionship

To find out what I’m up to here, see : Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps) 1 of 4 *I’ve checked the links below to ensure they are active as of Jan 16, 2025 Often times we pick up facts that appear useful or interesting and bring them back… Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

belief, beliefs, companionship, doxa, doxastic, epistemology, evolution, friends, groups, mental health, peeps, Philosophy, psychology, relationships, social, social epistemology, support, survival, tribe