pam-mentations.com

Social & Political Commentary, Philosophy, Satirical Cartoons

Philosophy

June 27, 2020

Fist Pumping.

I’ve here in mind the fist-pumping variety of politically vocal people, those certain that one side is leading us to another dark ages and the other to a totalitarian state. It appears that for some “left and right” thinking is characterized by black and white thinking. Nuance is lost. And with this loss, so too… Continue reading

Political Rhetoric

anger, cartoon, cartoons, fear, narrative, perception, perspective, Philosophy, polarization, political, politics, social, social epistemology, trust, truth, vitriol
March 5, 2020

The Real Experts.

Some people attempt to inject a little sense into the world by writing a letter to the editor, others by commenting on the comments commenting on the comments on a comment thread, and others still by preaching from a soapbox at a public discussion forum or from a soapbox on a street corner (location, location,… Continue reading

Catch-All

academia, academics, assistant, expert, experts, humor, humour, opinion, partner, Philosophy, spouse, trailing wife
November 7, 2019

The Art of Rhetoric: Working through the challenges and disagreements that arise from our shared lives. Series 4.3.

In my previous post, I suggest Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow and Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion are complementary reads. Why? Because a study of Haidt’s moral theory alongside Kahneman’s work on our cognitive/perceptual errors and biases might well make the barriers to both offering and receiving criticism… Continue reading

Political Rhetoric

artistotle, communication, discussion, epistemology, negotiation, Philosophy, rhetoric, social, social epistemology
October 27, 2019

Thinking, Fast and Slow. (And 2 worries.)Series 4.2.

Some of my books have well-worn pages, others are falling apart from use. The books I use heavily are usually those I think worth giving others. And so I do. I peruse used-book shops and thrift stores to stock my library with multiple copies. This way, I often have a book on hand to share. If… Continue reading

Political Rhetoric

books, correction, Daniel Kahneman, decision, epistemology, errors, fast, Hume, judgment, Philosophy, psychology, read, slow, social, social epistemology, Thinking
October 24, 2019

The Righteous Mind. Series 4.1.

My husband, Paul, and I host a weekly reading group. We read one book in the fall, another in the spring. This past spring we read Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind which, week after week, generated the best discussions we’ve had to date. (Note that I’m not doing a comprehensive book review here.) Haidt notes that… Continue reading

Political Rhetoric

epistemology, Haidt, indignation, kitten, moral, outrage, patience, Philosophy, puppy, self-righteous, social, social epistemology
October 22, 2019

Thoreau Quote with Photo, On Evil

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve. —… Continue reading

Arts and Leisure

moral, moral myopia, myopia, myopic, Philosophy, Thoreau, Walden
August 16, 2019

Introducing Theodicy. What on earth is a Theodicy?!

Loosely speaking, a theodicy is an attempt to explain why God allows evil in the world. More particularly, it’s an attempt to answer The Problem of Evil; that is, to give an account of how the existence of God and of evil are not incompatible. So the problem is just this: 1) God is omnipotent… Continue reading

Philosophy

abrahamic, Best of All Possible Worlds, Christian, Descartes, easy, evil, Free Will, Hick, human authored, introduction, Jewish, Liebniz, Mackie, natural, pain, Philosophy, Plantinga, primer, problem of evil, religion, solidarity, Soul-Making, suffering, theodicy, theology
April 29, 2019

Social Epistemology, 5 Short Examples (suitable for a class)

You can’t fact check every little thing and still have friends. Can you imagine what a jerk I’d be if I insisted on fact checking everything everyone says to me? Tammy: I went to the mall this morning. Pam: Did you now. Which mall? Tammy: THE mall. The only mall in town. Pam: How do… Continue reading

Philosophy

belief, beliefs, cohesion, community, complaisance, compleasance, epistemology, fact, facts, friends, friendship, group, ignorance, navigation, orientation, perdurance, Philosophy, reliance, reports, social, social epistemology, testimony, trust
April 22, 2019

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 is reckoned together, the difference between man and man [and woman*] is not so considerable… Continue reading

Catch-All

aristotle, common, curiousity, desire, ecclesiastes, equality, Hobbes, human, metaphysics, Philosophy, senses, sensing, sensual, Shakespeare, Shylock, social, suffering, theodicy, universals, vulnerable