Ciceronianus

Well, a couple of things. I think it would have been noted, somewhere, by someone, if a pagan was executed by Roman authorities for not honoring a pag...

Very true. The status of the Jewish people in the Empire is remarkable, I think--up to the first great revolt. Despite the antics of a madman like Gai...

That would have been highly unusual until the Christians took over the Roman state. Then pagans (and other, erring, Christians) were killed relentless...

I speculate that the remarkable success of Christianity is due to a number of factors, but most of all to (1) its assimilation of virtually all aspect...

Well, he comes as close as can be to claiming godhood. John 8:58 - "Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.' John...

I didn't know there was such a painting. I'll see if I can find it.

Assuming those Mark quotes in his Gospel were accurate, he was a carpenter with four brothers. I don't know about you, but I was brought up in the One...

Well, the existence of "shit sponges" as used by the Romans is pretty certain. Perhaps we should be content with that. But if not, it's also pretty ce...

Well, presumably it would, to you and those who like, or love, or depend on you. Why disturb yourself over whether it matters to anyone, or anything, ...

Damnation. I must be thinking of The Blue and Brown Books, then.

I think Heidegger wrote something about being able to encounter The Nothing only when suspended in red. Or was it something else? Perhaps we must be s...

I prefer Austin, myself. I think him easier to understand, possibly because he took the trouble to write what he thought, something the later Wittgens...

Well, the cure is one that must be self-administered. Many are loathe to be cured. They're like anti-vaxxers in that respect.

We seem to be talking past each other. We approach these issues in very different ways. I'll try to explain my approach or view, though I expect you d...

I fear so, yes. Most of us are content--even glad--to remain in the fly-bottle.

I'm saying I think it's inappropriate to treat our own decisions, thoughts, feelings as if they were like objects or things we discern, realize, perce...

"Aware" is defined as "having or showing realization, perception or knowledge" by Merriam Webster online, and "having knowledge or discernment of some...

Well, it seems to me to be the case that we simply decide. We don't become aware that we do so. Someone else may become aware that we've made a decisi...

I'm not sure what this means. I find it hard to conceive of any decisions we make (or, for that matter, thought, reasoning, beliefs) that aren't relat...

Sartre's still around, it seems. https://existentialcomics.com/comic/333

My Latin's very spotty. It seems someone doesn't understand something, and some sort of proceeding on acts against the public interest. That's the bes...

I have a copy of Being and Nothingness somewhere. I bought it many long years ago, and am reasonably certain I never read more than a few pages of it....

Well, that doesn't really work, though, does it? The author doesn't speak of experiencing the anger of anger, or the sadness of sadness, or the fear o...

I'm leery, and perhaps weary (because I'm lazy?), of attempts at definition in this instance. Inclined as I am to think, with Dewey, that when it come...

H.L. Mencken said that Dewey was "the worst writer ever heard of in America." I wouldn't go that far, but he's difficult to read, no doubt about it. H...

Just for the hell of it, and for what it's worth, and because I'm a fan of John Dewey and this topic reminded me of something, here's what the Stanfor...

The Mill of On Liberty wasn't the only Mill. Perhaps as part of his efforts to free himself from the teachings of his horrible father, Mill in other w...

Might we not merely be annoyed with ourselves, or find ourselves dull or fractious, in order to survive?

Thank you.

Ah, "free speech." Some think that by chanting the phrase any opinion expressed or statement made is allowed, and is justified. The "right of free spe...

Perhaps, as unlikely as it may be, a person goes to church merely because that person enjoys platitudes, the recitation of the bland version of script...

The Christian Trinity is mandated by doctrine, specifically the doctrine accepted as orthodox and incorporated into what's called the Nicean Creed, re...

Which means, I suppose, that there are "things" having the property of "impossibility" or "impossibleness." Why isn't "Why are some things possible an...

But we're talking about existence. A "set" of things is normally distinguished, and distinguishable, from a set of other things, or another thing. The...

Perhaps my problem is I think letters are letters, and numbers are numbers. In other words, I don't think letters have a property of "letter-ness"; th...

Maybe I'm a victim of the OLP I was taught in the increasingly distant days of my youth (I tend to think I'm a beneficiary of it). Context is importan...

Well, I don't know. I have trouble understanding the difference between "All things that exist, exist" and "all things that exist have existence in co...

I think the question is a very artificial one to begin with, and that itself creates problems. I think it's important to understand that when we ask "...

I agree, and don't mean to say this is something of significance to Nazis only. I think it may be a general, and emotional, reaction to a loss of fait...

It's interesting (to me at least) that in pre-Christian times, Epicurus was admired for his teaching that there was no afterlife. We simply cease to e...

Ugh. No doubt it's already been pointed out somewhere in this thread, and certainly elsewhere, that this "fundamental question" according to Everyone'...

Zevon was a unique talent, I think, much underappreciated. The Dave Brubeck Quartet was unusual in its "whiteness" during its heyday in the 1960s. In ...

Well, are you speaking of art, or only music? Islamic visual arts can be quite impressive. Believe it or not, some might say, even, that the arabesque...

Clearly, God said "discuss me" sometime or other. Why else would we do so, unceasingly and with so little to show for it, if not under compulsion? Thu...

Reminds me of this gem:. "Backwards ran the sentences until reeled the mind."

Only that philosophers within the analytic tradition like Austin, the later Wittgenstein, Wisdom and Strawson were, I think, very different from Russe...

It's interesting that those responding to Banno's question seem to treat analytic philosophy as limited to logical positivism, perhaps with Russell th...

Well, I'm no philosopher, as has been noted now and then--merely an adroit, vastly experienced and knowledgeable lawyer. But analytic philosophy is, t...

Well, at least he speaks of needing a "god" to save us and not "the Fuhrer" doing so as he would have earlier, no doubt. It's difficult to think of hi...

Bitter Crank is quite right about the origin of Original Sin (tee hee), but those who think it, or the question whether Jesus was born with it, are un...