The majority of those who call themselves "conservative" are without knowing it liberal in that they ascribe to the tradition of natural rights, equal...
What I find interesting is that he sees the modern separation between the concepts of reason and good as being at the root of nihilism. The separation...
Well, you present a concept of reason. Since we do not have knowledge of the good we must rely on our concept of the good, our views, opinions, discus...
By this I mean two things. First, we do not know how successful and policy or program will be. There will be unforeseen and unintended consequences. S...
Just yesterday I came across this: Reason for the ancients was not the same as modern reason modeled on mathematics. It was closer to our other uses o...
And yet they remain popular. I think it is a combination of fear and resentment fueled by well funded right wing propaganda. I think it fair to say, i...
The fact that I disagree with you does not mean I am upset with you. I don't know who you are but I don't imagine you have much power to change things...
Although social security is popular the GOP is still opposed: https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2018/11/02/republican-public-opposition-t...
I will neither affirm not deny what you say about me since I don't know what it means. I cannot tell if you made up these terms or just misspelled the...
One thing that should be kept in mind is the constraints under which Descartes was forced to write. He took as his motto Ovid's saying: I will not go ...
I suggest you do a bit more reading on the subject. It was not a full out revolution but the creation of unions to advance workers rights was a social...
Trump is a demagogue surrounded by sycophantic plutocrats . He is exactly the kind of person Plato warned against in his criticism of democracy. His p...
Democracy, as Plato warned, can be the tyranny of the demos, that is, the mob. Tocqueville also said: And: And: The extent to which socialism promotes...
What counts as a professional philosopher? I suspect that no matter one's credentials, disagreeing with you would automatically disqualify them in you...
I must confess that I do not know what Nietzsche means by noble spirits. Perhaps the problem is that I cannot recognize what I am not. Having said tha...
Nietzsche is explicit in saying he wants to be misunderstood except by a few. Wittgenstein is not quite so explicit, but if his writing contains locke...
Well, there is no initiation or secret society, but there is something hidden that only some can understand. It is, using the metaphor of a locked roo...
Does Wittgenstein have such a room? Is he talking about his own writing? Why would he wish to keep "certain people" out? Does the difference between t...
@"baker" This meaning is crucial for understanding pre-modern thought, for problems such as the One and the many, and the Forms. Reason for the ancien...
I think it is important to make distinctions as to what esoteric means. The term is used to mean occult or arcane knowledge, but it is also used simpl...
I do not doubt that my words would benefit from editing, but if what you take away from what I say is that I do not care enough then I think it clear ...
My once believing it is attestation of how we are fooled by the disguise. There is an esoteric teaching hidden in the exoteric teaching. It is about p...
The "mystical Plato" a failure to understand his use of mythos andpoesis. The conflation of the works of Plato and Platonism is a fundamental mistake....
I am addressing some of this in the thread on esotericism. My opinion was changed by one of Strauss' students, Stanley Rosen, a contemporary of Bloom....
I am not arguing that it is not real. I am saying that I have no experience of it and so no longer simply assume it is real. To do so would be like th...
On dialectic. The problem is, how does one free himself from hypothesis? How does one use hypotheses as a springboard? Does one simply jump back to wh...
The same problem must be faced with regard to Plato's dialectic. Reasoned speech cannot lead to knowledge of the Forms. Dialectic is nothing more than...
Well, I could point to the work of various highly regarded scholars whose reading too is what you would regard as tendentious, but I never met a Plato...
Socrates, as you quote, says: The two terms I put in bold need to be considered. How something appears is not the same as noesis. What appears to him ...
Except that is not what happened in Socrates own case. The passage from the Republic 533a makes this clear. If what you mean by higher knowledge and t...
I was referring to Socrates and the distinction between human and divine wisdom. As I understand it, he points to the limits of human knowledge. I don...
No actual sages in the sense of having divine knowledge. At least none that Socrates ever met and none that he identified as such. Someone worshiped f...
There is another important use of the term 'esoteric' as laid out in great detail in Arthur M. Melzer's "Philosophy Between the Lines". Examples from ...
There is no Socratic dialogue with a sage. It is not that the sage is superior to Socrates but rather that elenchus reveals that no one who professed ...
Another of my teachers, Leo Strauss, although I know him only through his books, said that when you come upon a contradiction take this as an indicati...
I did too. These were small classes, sitting around the seminar table. He had an air of gravity, but also a lightness from the pleasure of thought and...
By forward I mean from today to tomorrow, as in, from this day forward. I do not mean progress but rather change. We do not live in a time of cohesive...
Whose use is one following if not that of those who request to be identified as such? It is a matter of frequency of use. I won't speak for all cases ...
The 'law' can be construed narrowly or more widely depending on what one is asking. If one is asking whether doing X is legal then we look to what the...
If I think the request uncivil or disrespectful I would not comply. The meaning of words and their connotations change. Case in point, see the etymolo...
I think it best to call them what they like. If people call you what they like you may not like what some of them call you. It is a matter of civility...
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