Probably not what you expected, but still accurate and interesting. 🙂 Filed under: Philosophy Tagged: 8-bit Philosophy, Philosophy, Simone de Beauvoir
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Scripturient: Blog & Commentary: Master Shih Te’s Words
I see a lot of silly folks who claim their own small spine’s Sumeru, the sacred mountain that supports the universe. Piss ants, gnawing away at a noble tree, with never a doubt about their strength. They chew up a couple of Sutras, and pass themselves off as Masters. Let
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: How Marx Presaged Today’s Canada
“The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country,” wrote Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, in 1848, in the Communist Manifesto. I came across this paragraph in Prof. David Harvey‘s book, A Companion to Marx’s Capital, recently and
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Maxims of La Rochefoucauld
Certain good qualities are like senses: people entirely lacking in them can neither perceive nor comprehend them. You might think that was written about local politics, or a comment on the local blogosphere. But no, it was written in the mid 17th century by Francois, du de La Rochefoucauld. It
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Evolutionary Dead-Ends
Some people seem genetically inclined – perhaps I should write doomed? – to believe in nonsense:Â believe in conspiracy theories, in myths, legends, superstitions and supernatural, in magic, in pseudoscience and pseudomedicine. Nothing – no amount of fact, truth, education, reason or contrary evidence will change their minds. The harder you
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Theology of The Fly
While watching the 1958 film of The Fly last night, IÂ was struck by its similarities to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein. And in the similarity of the underpinning morality of both. I recently picked up the DVD collection with all three movies (The Fly, Return of The Fly and Curse
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: A Modern Take on Gorgias
Plato’s dialogue Gorgias is mostly about the difference between content and form. Or rather it’s about how Socrates saw the difference between philosophy – content and truth – and rhetoric – form and words. Both of which are practiced and studied today in much different forms from what they were
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Crito: Doing What’s Right
In his dialogue, Crito, Plato has Socrates gently admonish his friend, Crito, for his concern over what the uneducated public might think, or might spread by rumour and gossip, and encourages him instead to focus his attention on those ‘reasonable people’ who know the facts and in doing what is right: “Why, my
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Logical Fallacies
Last night at council IÂ referred to seeing what I believed was a post hoc fallacy in a report, or more properly a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Yeah, I probably annoyed some folks in the audience because I used Latin words and that confused them. But hey, they already
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Skepticism Too Easily Slides Into Cynicism
Years spent in the media, plus decades of independent practice as a writer and social critic honed my native skepticism into a protective psychological barrier against a wide range of social ailments and inappropriate, often dangerous beliefs. It has made me question motives, statements, logic and conclusions, and search for the underlying truths.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Religous Disservice – The Philosophical Failures of Christian Apologetics – Objective Morality
Well you knew it was hogwash, but Anti-Citizen X unpacks and analyses how silly the idea of Objective Morality is. Unfortunately, their are many layers of stupid that come, hand in hand, with Christian Moral thought, thus necessitating the twenty minute deconstruction of all the silliness. Filed under: Philosophy, Religion
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: “A” Personalities: A Theory
When someone tells me he is an “A-type” personality, I cannot help but think of the title of Aaron James’ bestselling book: Assholes *A Theory (Anchor Books, New York, 2014). After all, what else would the “A” stand for when someone boasts to the audience he is an alpha male
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Montaigne on Friendship, Liars and Politics
“I am seeking the companionship and society of such men as we call honourable and talented,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay, On the Three Kinds of Social Intercourse (Book III, 3). “It is, when you reflect on it, the rarest of all our forms…” Montaigne was musing in
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Epicurus – The 3 Secrets to a Happy Life?
I knew there was a reason to give Philosophy another go. 🙂 Filed under: Philosophy Tagged: Epicurus, Happiness, Philosophy
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: A Buddhist Guide for Voters
While it was intended as a general ‘charter of free inquiry,’ the Buddhist Kalama Sutra (or sutta) contains wise words that all voters – especially local voters – should heed during the municipal election campaign. The Kalamas were a people in ancient India. Gotama visited them and stopped in a town called Kesaputta, where
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Plato’s Apology
Plato records the trial and death of Socrates in four dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo. I’ve been reading The Apology this week and finding in it references that reflect well in today’s world, particularly in politics.* In The Apology – which meant defence in Greek, not saying sorry as it
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Montaigne: The Depravity of Our Morals
“Our judgments follow the depravity of our morals and remain sick,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay On Cato the Younger (Essay XXXVII, Book I, Screech translation, Penguin Classics, 2003). That’s quite a condemnation.* Montaigne opens that essay by quietly commenting, “I do not suffer from that common failing
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Examined Lives
Thought and deed. Thought and life. How does a person’s life, their upbringing, their daily toil affect their deepest thoughts, their beliefs, faith and passions? And as outsiders looking in, can we understand a person’s thinking by examining their lives? Can we understand their philosophy that way? I don’t know.
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Trolley Problem
I had read about the “trolley problem” in the past, but not given it much thought until recently when I saw Thomas Cathcart’s little book of that name in the philosophy section of an Indigo bookstore. It’s subtitled, “Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the bridge? A Philosophical Conundrum.”
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Unexamined Life
“The unexamined life,” Socrates declared in his trial, “is not worth living.” His student, Plato, wrote down those words in his account of Socrates’ trial and death, in the book, Apology.* Socrates was speaking for himself and about the value of his life as a thinking person. He was on trial in
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