Ciceronianus

It strikes me that if the "real snake" (or whatever it may be) cannot be known, the mental representation snake is what is of significance to us. It d...

Well, let's speak of snakes and trains, as does Hoffman in The Atlantic.. According to Hoffman, our snakes and trains are "mental representations" or ...

Well, let's speak of snakes and trains, as does Hoffman in The Atlantic.. According to Hoffman, our snakes and trains are "mental representations" or ...

I wonder if there can be a more compelling example of a difference which makes no difference.

What does he think is difference between the reality "out there" and the ideas about reality "in here"? If he says the difference is that one is "out ...

Ask yourself what reasons there are to wonder whether nature exists, given the fact that you interact with it every minute of your life. Ask yourself ...

And I believe in Cicero's assertion that silent enim leges inter arma, and think Sherman was right when he said war is cruelty and cannot be reformed.

Marcus Aurelius spent a good part of his reign as Emperor at war, and died in his military headquarters in Pannonia (now Serbia). The Empire also saw ...

Tolstoy seems to have been a very sanctimonious fellow and, as would seem to follow from that, exceedingly self-righteous. All should read Donald Bart...

I'm uncertain just what a philosophy of war is supposed to be. Is it an explanation of it? Is it the consideration of how war should be waged? Does it...

That's quite Deweyian (Deweyish?) I think. For him, judgments which are the outcome of controlled inquiry for a purpose, not propositions, indicate wh...

Oh hell, I'll try to provide an example. This is something of Austin's (but it's been quite some time, so I might screw it up). I assume we're all fam...

Someone born Catholic disagrees with Church doctrine? Mirabile dictu! Other aliens, I would guess, for one thing.

I wonder what that's supposed to mean. Must I read the damn essay to understand? If he means that history is an exercise in rhetoric, meant to serve a...

That we are more appropriately considered vermin than are rats.

It's a kind of self-indulgence, of the kind engaged in by those with far too much time on their hands.

This is just the kind of problem which should be pondered by those longing for Ancapistan.

Communication would be less confusing. The absence of pronouns will increase clarity of expression as clarity will be required for communication. Also...

In order to be completely gender-neutral, the use of pronouns should be discontinued. Just stop using pronouns. For example, instead of "Do you want s...

A Stoic is indifferent to what's not in his/her control. You're not indifferent to whether you live or how you live to the extent that's in your contr...

John Stuart Mill, who was a member of Parliament for a time, famously or infamously said: “Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid p...

I joined the Elks Club because my wife and I wanted to use its location for our wedding reception (it was unusually nice and even had a golf course). ...

Can I "like" my own posts? If so, how many times can I do so? Just wondering.

An arbiter actually decides an outcome, or is someone whose opinion in a matter is considered preeminent, unsurpassed (e.g. Petronius, who wrote The S...

The Republican party exists to line the pockets of their friends and sponsors (and their own as well, of course); to assure that the wealthy and large...

Dancing HAS BEEN a source of law, in fact. Ordinances, case law that I know of. A form of expression granted First Amendment protection here in God's ...

My inclination is to consider the law as something which derives from our interaction with each other and the rest of the world of which we're a part,...

I've actually witnessed glossolalia. By "witnessed" I mean hearing it and seeing people (apparently) speaking in tongues; I have no desire to "testify...

If you think it's not interesting who shows up and contributes to this thread, then you shouldn't be interested in Tiff's comment, nor should you be i...

Ach, du lieber! I would side with Hart when it comes to such thinking, I'm afraid.

Theaetatus was something of a milquetoast, it seems.

Ah, blessed silence. But religion brings out the noise in us.

Yes, early Christianity was superb at repression, and at assimilation when repression was unsuccessful. This was especially the case with Latin Christ...

I'm not sure what you consider "opinion" to be, but if you're going to hold any kind of view about, or make a judgment regarding, most anything, you'r...

I've always found it interesting that, even if the traditional "proofs" of the existence of God had any validity, they don't serve to prove the existe...

In what way does it do so? Legal positivism merely addresses the existence of law. It's possible also to address the sources of the law, and why it's ...

Yes. I took the legal positivism position, essentially. When people speak of "natural law" or "higher law" they speak of something that isn't necessar...

I've already explained what law is, you know. It's the law, and only the law. Sorry.

That's quite enough packing, I believe.

I don't think the ancient Stoics ever doubted that we're subject to emotion. I don't think they believed emotion could be eradicated. I believe they f...

Don't get civil on me, now.

Well, certainly that's what he means by "I think of civility as akin to table manners" you gibbering, drooling, fatuous, miserable, pompous, self-righ...

I'm not certain what you mean by "civil discourse." Certainly words used, accent, the use of slang, are taken by some as determinative of status. That...

Well... If "incivility is anger directed at unjust civil ordering" it's difficult to object to incivility, and urge civility, isn't it? On the other h...

That people kill or maim creatures for sport or entertainment is indisputable, but not something I'd consider admirable or appropriate. Sitting in a s...

Sometimes, a psychologist is just a psychologist (and a neurologist just a neurologist). This doesn't make them philosophers, however. Whether sex or ...

Thanks again for the references. As I understand "musement" it is, at first at least, a process by which our observations suggest that something is th...

Thanks for the reference. That's quite interesting to speculate about. Is that article available somewhere? What about your article? For quite some ti...

Nature is the only thing that has value, if it's appropriate to think of it as a "thing." What else is there that would?

I think that Pierce is sometimes very difficult to read (as is Dewey). I read Charles Pierce's Guess at the Riddle by John Sheriff, and found that hel...