A few thoughts aloud (Reading Toulmin and Montaigne this morning sparked some exciting musings and thoughts!) Serious studies of philosophy…ahhh, that makes me so happy. That makes me smile, and chuckle with joy. Now, the really big show, which I want to do formally one day (having eschewed formalities,
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Modernism, Post-Modernism, Skepticism, and Sanity
Reading Toulmin’s brilliant history of modernity and the past four centuries (Cosmopolis), it becomes clear at page 190, in his conclusion, he has not been heading for the kind of middle way balance I had been hoping he was getting to, but instead, arrives back at ancient Skepticism. His
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Meditations For Difficult Times
What do you do when the world has gone insane? Well, you stay calm, and keep working for justice, peace, democracy, ecological balance, and freedom. You also have to stay well. That does not mean unthinkingly obeying irrational fascist orders. It does mean managing stress, eating well, getting exercise,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Central Issue: Oligarchy vs Democracy
The central issue, now as always, is not about wealth, or distribution of wealth. It’s not about bread and butter issues. It’s not about taxes or spending, budgets or allocations, or who gets what and how much. It’s about power. The oligarchs know that. The elite know that very well.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: “It Depends Who You Talk To” – Relativism, Nihilism & Mass Insanity
Let’s get some things out of the way, right from the start. Our society is insane. Fromm was right, and there is no doubt about it. Illusions, delusion, lies and half-truths, distortions of the truth, avoidance of reality, denial, psychological numbness, narcissism and disociation are all epidemic. That is in
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Step Number One
Stephen Toulmin’s proposal of a return to a modest Renaissance humanism sounds wonderful (as a fresh start, so to speak, and only a start) compared to dogmatic ideology-fetishizing modernism on the one hand, or the arguably even worse alternative of polysyllabic post-modernist nihilism on the other. But when the people
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Political Philosophy 101: Democracy vs Elite Rule
Use anything and anyone to gain and maintain power. That is the Machiavellian philosophy which rules the minds of the power elite, both East and West, as Howard Zinn has indicated as well. Public health, human well-being, conscience, principles, morals, freedom, democracy, other high ideals, have nothing to do with
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Central Challenge Of Our Time
What is the central challenge of our time? It is not what most people think it is. It is not race or gender, or climate change, or the environment broadly, or issues of war and peace, or poverty, or justice, or equality, or fighting terrorism, crime or violence, WMDs and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Collapse of Modern Civilization
More than 150 years ago Thoreau commented, “Our sills are all rotten.” He was right. It is for that reason that Western, and Westernized, “modern” “civilization” is collapsing. This could be cataclysmic, of course, (as in, an ecological holocaust), or relatively peaceful, (akin to the Maya abandoning their great cities
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Fantasy and Indoctrination: Rough notes on a few fantasy novels: part two
Here are two more fantasy books that I could not get through. That makes three in a row. And to think, I had a love affair with Terry Brookes’ Shannara series! (I read something like 20 Shannara novels in a row, and loved all of them, other than the last
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Reflections On Stillness & Action
We need stillness and action – both, and urgently so. This should be becoming perfectly clear. I’ve travelled through 20 countries, but still I find stillness the greatest adventure, and most rewarding, enriching journey of all. Going to the mountain top is exceedingly worthwhile, but going deep within is what
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Certainty Of Death, Or The Death Of Certainties
It’s amazing to me, to see, even in thoughtful writings, even in exceptionally thoughtful writing, which is as far above the norm as the moon is from the bottom of the ocean, that even there, certain cultural constructs of the mind, certain prejudices or pre-formed and unquestioned assumptions, certain
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Depressive Realism
Is the cost of embracing the reality of our existence sadness and misery? These are excerpts from an insightful essay found over at Aeon magazine by Julie Reshe. I would recommend you follow the link and go read the full essay, as Reshe’s writing and conclusions she has reached seem
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Resisting Wokeness: Andrew Doyle and Douglas Murray
A conversation on the one of the more malignant aspects of the current social zeitgeist.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Holly Lawford-Smith Captures the Friction Between The Trans and Gender Critical sides of the Gender Debate
Holly Lawford-Smith’s work in its entirety because it so precisely encapsulates what is going in the gender debates. Earlier this year, the Institute of Art and Ideas invited scholars and activists to consider the question, How Can Philosophy Help Us Understand Transgender Experiences? Following the publication of this article,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: It’s Politics, Not Philosophy – Holly Lawford-Smith
It isn’t just on Twitter where transactivists go blithely on ignoring arguments, nope. Parallels exist in academia as well. Holly Lawford-Smith writing at the Quillette illustrates the divide between gender critical and establishment (woke) philosophers. “Perhaps another reason why things have gotten ugly is that the underlying disagreement is
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Radical Notion That Women Are People — Jane Clare Jones
So, after a summer recess of trying to forget that the world is manifoldly going to hell in a handcart, this week’s exciting ‘Back to Twitter’ experience has involved a good deal of feminists being berated for ‘reducing women to their genitals/biology/anatomy/whatever.’ This woke-approved soundbite has been around for an
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Guns and Mass Murder in the United States – Choices Made…
The US has made the choice, with regards to their gun laws, of prioritizing personal freedom over the value of collective security. Is the choice correct? From the view of those outside the US, probably not but it is a path that most American’s seem content to continue to
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Psychopaths, Society, and Morality
Heidi Maibom in her essay at Aeon Magazine explores some the psychological and philosophical insights into morality gained by observing the behaviour of psychopathic individuals. I recommend going to Aeon and reading the entire article, its quite insightful. “The psychopath’s response to people who suffer indicates that what we
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