political

March 16, 2025

Thoughtlets. LXXIII. On the moral connotations of rationality

[Excerpt from my writing archives followed by a footnote.] …‘Rational’ not only indicates the right, correct, approved, reasonable, or sensible way of thinking, but also the term invariably means the right thinking and goodness of the author or speaker. Hence ‘rational’ also has moral connotations.[1] [1] Morally reprehensible people, on some conceptions, include those who allow themselves to Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Thoughtlets

epistemic sloth, epistemology, moral, morality, over confidence, Philosophy, political, rationality, reason, rhetoric
March 10, 2025

Thoughtlets. LXVII. When the term “motivated reasoning” is deployed in rhetoric …

Another candidate for the Department of Idiotic Redundancies is the term “motivated reasoning”. Assuming one wants to overcome motivated reasoning, in so-doing she is processing information to arrive at conclusions that suit her own needs and goals; i.e. her goals to overcome motivated reasoning. What non-motivated reasoning means I can’t imagine. Cf David Hume: “Reason Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Thoughtlets

ad hominen, Hume, motivated reasoning, passion, political, politics, reason, rhetor
March 10, 2025

Upcoming in my Political Rhetor Series.

I’ve published: 6.1. Intro. Pam and Aristotle on the Political Rhetor; The Political Rhetor and the Future: 6.2.a. The Poor; 6.2. b. Children; 6.2.c.i. Future Generations. The Political Rhetor and the Future, Future Generations: 6.2.ii. Who are the Future Generations?; 6.2.iii The Glimmer of Hope Move; and, 6.2.iv. Stewardship — are each in the editing Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

action, concepts, ethics, mental states, movement, ontology, oratory, perlocutionary, Philosophy, political, politics, rhetoric, speech acts
March 10, 2025

Aristotle and Pam on The Political Rhetor. 6.1. Series. Intro.

I’ve already published 6.2.a. The Poor, 6.2. b. Children, and 6.2.c.i. (of ii, iii, and iv) on Future Generations. So this intro is out of chronological order. The most important concept for political rhetoric is the “perlocutionary speech act” as described below. “The political orator* aims at establishing the expediency** or the harmfulness of a Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

audience, ends, oratory, perlocutionary speech act, persuasion, Philosophy, political, politician, politics, polity, rhetor, rhetoric, speaker, speech, speech act, ways and means, words
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
August 31, 2024

Forest of Knowledge. Beatnik Philosophy.

Complementing an academic’s freedom to dissent is the maximal removal of impediments to her pursuit of hypotheses and matters of fact about the stuff that furnishes the universe and of the universe itself. This stuff undergirds the core investigations of philosophy: what exists (ontology); what, and how, can we know (epistemology); and how shall we Continue reading

Arts and Leisure, Catch-All, Philosophy, Social and Political Commentary

academia, academic freedom, academy, beatnik, disputation, dissent, epistemology, fact, fiction, forest, investigation, investigations, knowledge, ontology, Philosophy, poetry, political, prose, social
August 23, 2024

The Right(eous)ness of the Wronged: A Powerful Tool of Persuasion.

Righteous anger motivates personal crusades just as it does a march of thousands, even hundreds of thousands. *Herein, I use rhetor, orator speaker and writer interchangeably. Likewise for the words hearer, audience, judger, and reader. An overview of what Aristotle means by rhetoric and some of its features is helpful here. Aristotle defines rhetoric as, Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

anger, aristotle, campaign, emotion, ethos, God, good, harris, Hobbes, injustice, justice, karma, oratory, pathos, persuasion, Philosophy, political, politics, revenge, rhetoric, right, righteous, speaker, Trump
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