Ciceronianus

But there are so many other disciplines making up shit--even philosophical shit. That will keep philosophers busy for many years.

That was standard view of pragmatism in the late 20th century, which seems to be changing. I've never been much of a fan of Pierce's Firstness, Second...

Some brain in a vat told me I'm not, and he should know.

Of books by Dewey? Probably Reconstruction in Philosophy or The Quest for Certainty are the most readable.

Right-wingers have believed Dewey destroyed the educational system for quite some time, and that as a consequence our youth are not being taught Truth...

Well, let's say philosophers can be, but philosophy shouldn't be. When mention is made of "mystery" I tend to associate what's being referred to as so...

That's true, unfortunately. I'd recommend Larry Hickman's books about Dewey. I'm not sure just what it is about Dewey's writing that makes him difficu...

True enough.

He certainly was adept at creating a haze, if not a purple one.

I think analytic philosophy would not so much interfere with the musings, if we can call them that, which result from these characteristics and concer...

Dewey certainly isn't a scintillating writer. His definition of "inquiry" is very broad, I think, because it's intended to apply to problems or concer...

Happily, I know little of what goes on in the academic world. When I was taught philosophy, what I read and what was discussed had little to do with p...

According to Dewey, "the controlled or directed transformation of an indeterminate situation into one that is so determinate in its constituent distin...

That would be a factor. Another would be self-love (the belief in one's own importance, and the resulting search for a justification or explanation fo...

The only formal education I had in philosophy was devoted to the study of Analytic Philosophy, Ordinary Language Philosophy, and (through a particular...

I think that's been tried, at least as to certain aspects of philosophy; metaphysics, for example. And yet it keeps reappearing in various guises--lik...

Analytic philosophy, like Joe Hill, ain't dead, and like rock 'n roll, it will never die, as long as it's considered to be a method or collection of m...

Yes, but only because the one true sacrifice has already made, and is reenacted in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

It seems so, when you check his profile. He seemed to be seeking banishment.

I see the tiresome, one-trick pony is gone now. RIP, dear Mystic.

Has anyone ever been banned for sanctimony? Well, I suppose that's an inappropriate question here, if this thread is to address specific bannings only...

Well, some say Nietzsche had syphilis, but if that was so, it doesn't necessarily mean he fucked a lot. Chances are he didn't fuck much at all, poor f...

I'm reading a book on divination in antiquity, Divination and Human Nature, by Peter Struck, which considers the views of ancient philosophers regardi...

I would call his position naturalism rather than materialism. He certainly thought we are wholly natural beings which developed in the natural world a...

His early work, yes. His later work, it seems, was all about his personal life, so I'm not sure there's that much of a distinction between one and the...

Dewey opposed what has been described as the "spectator" view of truth (or knowledge). He saw us as living organisms which are parts of an environment...

That particular quote strikes me as uncharacteristic, as Dewey was generally quite mild in his assessment of other philosophers, including Bertrand Ru...

Oh yes. Some of them revel in being sinners, in fact, following the example set long ago by Augustine of Hippo. The more they sin, the more remarkable...

I wasn't aware Jesus loved dogs, too, thereby making it one of those Christian ideals you reference. But certainly, ideals of any kind are ideals. Wha...

"A Swabian peasant trying to sound like me" is what Dewey is reputed to have said about everyone's favorite Nazi. I've read a good deal of Dewey ; not...

Perhaps it took some time for him to find a community/family he could love and work for, then. Consider it a kind of family portrait.

He's second from the right, sitting, at this rally for Peace and Love. https://philosophynow.org/media/images/issues/121/Heidegger%20with%20Nazis.jpg

He's well worth reading. Quite philosophical, I think. A student of George Santayana, for whom he wrote a poem--To an Old Philosopher in Rome. Also a ...

Here's a very philosophical poem, by Wallace Stevens: Not Idea About the Thing but the Thing Itself At the earliest ending of winter, In March, a scra...

Well, they have to though, don't they? Otherwise the God they worship would be jealous, despotic and bloodthirsty. Christians, on the other hand, may ...

Perfect cheese, though.

Card-carrying Nazi Heidegger (Whom Hitler had made all aquiver) Tried hard to be hailed Nazi-Plato, but failed Then denied that he tried, with great v...

Since you brought up resolution, I'll throw in the Act of Contrition as well, and resolve to sin nor more.

I'll remind myself that people are starving the next time I listen to Brahms. That should quash that naughty materialist enjoyment. If that doesn't wo...

They're my favorites among the symphonies, but I've never thought of them quite that way. I prefer his chamber music, generally--chamber music in gene...

I'm just trying to figure out what you feel is or is not materialist or materialistic when it comes to interest in such things as music, poetry, scien...

Ah, I see. The materialist content of interests in music, poetry, science and gardening, then. So, if I'm interested in the music of Brahms because I ...

What kind of immaterial content would they have? I've been exposed to guitar masses, and suspect attendance at them is mandatory in hell. But what is ...

Sancta Mater Ecclesia did what it has always done, more or less successfully (e.g., the Reformation), for so long. That is, what was considered approp...

Huh. Plato's ethics? Virtue Ethics? Stoicism? Confucianism? Buddhism? If you hold the "Big Daddy" view of God, your moral point of view is inherently ...

I think paintings tell us more about the artists who made them than anything else. So, for that matter, do videos like this one. I don't know the answ...

So I understand, and have been told before. The only people I know who got that kind of treatment from Rome were the Carthaginians.

I'd hoped you'd abandoned that position, I confess. Really, it hasn't been Jewish land since (at the latest) the Romans, with that thoroughness and ru...

It's a sad thing, I believe. A once legitimate (if sometimes misguided) intellectual/political tradition has been suborned and replaced with a movemen...

Cicero said, quite rightly, that there's nothing so absurd but some philosopher has already said it. But absurdity and stupidity don't seem, to me, to...