In this post I want to shed some light on the ultimate principle of explanation in Aristotle’s (384-322 BC) systematic worldview, the thing without which nothing can move and develop: God. To approach his theology we need to take a… Read more ›
One of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s (384-322 BC) most enduring contributions is his analysis of eudaimonia, a word that can be variously translated as happiness, fulfillment, flourishing, or well-being. His analysis appears to have lost none of its power… Read more ›
One question to which Aristotle’s conception of friendship has traditionally given rise is this: is friendship motivated by altruistic motives or egoistic ones? Put differently: when we are engaged in the activity of friendship do we act for the sake… Read more ›
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), in his book Daybreak (1881), wrote: “On Education. – I have gradually seen the light as to the most universal deficiency in our kind of cultivation and education: no one learns, no one strives after, no one… Read more ›
There is an interesting contrast between Aristotle and Friedrich Nietzsche when it comes to the notion of a good man and whether such a man should change and despise himself. Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, writes that the good man… Read more ›
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) argues that all natural things have an end or purpose they are trying to consciously or unconsciously achieve. Nature is thus teleological: it is purposeful and all natural processes are undertaken for the sake of realizing essential… Read more ›
Aristotle, in his Metaphysics (Book Lambda, 1075a), notes that “thinking and to be an object of thought are not the same.” This makes sense: if I am thinking about a tree the tree is not my thought of the tree. Indeed,… Read more ›
In his book The Genealogy of Morals (part 3, section 7), Friedrich Nietzsche writes: “Every animal, including la bête philosophe [philosophical animal] strives instinctively after an optimum of favorable conditions, under which he can let his whole strength have play, and achieves… Read more ›
Introduction The concept of love can be helpfully approached by understanding insights from three popular theories of it: eros, agape, and philia. In this post I offer a few central insights from each theory and show how these insights can… Read more ›
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Introduction I recently reread Sigmund Freud’s brilliant essay “The Uncanny” (1919) and I came across a fascinating claim which I failed to adequately process in the past. It has to do with his psychoanalytic analysis of one… Read more ›
Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day since 2021) is celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. “The holiday’s name, first used in the 1890s, is a portmanteau of the words “June” and “nineteenth”, referring to June 19, 1865,… Read more ›
One of my students was asked by one of his professors to interview another professor about social norms. So he reached out to me with four questions and I responded. I am no expert in social norms which is quite… Read more ›
One of the more enduring and influential principles of explanation is associated with the medieval philosopher William of Ockham (c 1280-1349) and is widely known as “Ockham’s Razor.” This principle prescribes that, if we are confronted with competing explanations that… Read more ›
Logic is the study of arguments. But in logic an argument is not a disagreement. Rather, it is a set of statements that are given in support of another statement. The supporting statements are called premises and the statement that… Read more ›
Rights, to quote the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “are entitlements (not) to perform certain actions, or (not) to be in certain states; or entitlements that others (not) perform certain actions or (not) be in certain states.” Some rights are civil… Read more ›