Ciceronianus

It seems a rather long way to go to say, in effect: "It upsets us greatly we're going to die. Why is that?"

Really? If it's necessary to give that a name, I think "the futile" would be more appropriate.

I don't know what "the nothing" is, and it's not clear to me anyone does. I suspect if a definition is hazarded by anyone, it will turn out to be fitt...

I think I said we ordinarily don't talk about it, but regardless I would be wrong only if I maintained that we can't speak, or write, the words what i...

I don't think that gets us anywhere, sadly, or at least it provides no insight for me into whatever it is that, apparently, isn't. Giving it a go: Whe...

Illusions, dreams and such undoubtedly occur and take place. They're a part of the world as they're part of our existence, explainable by reference to...

If it was, it seems to me that with a nod to those who would point out nothing isn't a thing, he proceeds to treat it as one, insisting, wrongly I thi...

Is this his inaugural address commencing his glorious term as rector of Freiburg in 1929 or something else?

Well, my last remark notwithstanding, I think I raise legitimate questions and would be inclined to raise them as to any philosopher. But if this thre...

I think we have good reason to do so, but here I'm referring to language use. Now, perhaps my ignorance of the German language prevents me from unders...

I have trouble thinking of feelings as a "self" though I find the idea that moods and feelings reflect our interaction with the rest of the world quit...

I'll take your word for it, though I'll note that I don't think we ordinarily speak of "what is not."

A lawyer like me has trouble understanding what he's saying at all, I'm afraid. We have our legal fictions, of course, but nowhere do we countenance "...

So, what does he do with it?

Thanks for the references. I'm not speaking of validation or proof, but believe that all we think and do is grounded in the world as we're a part of i...

So "the nothing" (which we must remember itself nothings, according to H) is nothing (pun intended) but a feeling, a state of mind? Which is, one woul...

My point, though--and perhaps you already grasp it but I don't grasp that you do--is that empirical evidence can and should be referred to in judging ...

What are these propositions? What is it that philosophy has "moved on" from that has been resolved by empirical evidence? I think the kind of epistemo...

Can't philosophical propositions be supported by empirical evidence? Can't certain philosophical propositions be considered more reasonable--more like...

We have similar interests, then. I find ancient Rome and its empire fascinating, but am leery generally of comparisons with the U.S., as it seems Rome...

Well, some quibbles, I suppose. The Etruscans were not the great power in Italy, and indeed were never so far as we can tell united into a single "pow...

It seems desirable to see things just as they, and nothing else, but I'm uncertain what it means. More specifically, I'm uncertain what Nietzsche mean...

If casual sex is immoral, then of course thorough, formal, painstaking sex is moral.

Well, I'm doing my part.

It was Chomskybot, I think. I confess I miss Chomskybot.

I'm not sure what you mean by "around here" but when I searched for "Chomsky" I came up with 253 mentions, which I would think isn't bad as far as men...

God's teeth. Does Noam Chomsky know everything? Whether he does or not, must we so persistently learn what he thinks and alert others when we do so? H...

It seems you're quite right. Thank you.

I see. You have a point. But the "cannot obstruct" argument is being made by his lawyers in what I think is a very real effort taking place now.

As far as I know, a presidential pardon, if one can be made in this instance, doesn't expire when a president leaves office. So I think we're talking ...

I wonder why, then, the president and his lawyers are making these claims now. They appear to believe them relevant. Shouldn't your complaint be direc...

The argument being made, as I understand it, is that the president is the chief representative of the law in the nation. The president is the law, in ...

I've been a lawyer for quite a while. Oddly, I find that though I have less and less respect for most of my fellow lawyers (including judges--and in p...

Dewey thought that the traditional philosophical questions were misguided and misleading. So, as far as I know, he never addressed a question like "Wh...

I haven't read anything of Dewey's which specifically addresses Nietzsche or nihilism, which isn't to say he never did so. He was probably accused of ...

I feel it's a good argument. Spinoza isn't alone, of course. The Stoics thought that God was immanent and that moral conduct could be determined "obje...

In no particular order: Sense and Sensibilia, J.L. Austin The Concept of Mind, Gilbert Ryle Reconstruction in Philosophy, John Dewey The Winds of Doct...

Perhaps I was too exposed to Wittgenstein and "ordinary language philosophers" like J.L. Austin in my younger days, or am myself merely ordinary, but ...

Ah. A proclamation.

People must have guns and use them to stop people who have guns and use them on people who have no guns and therefore cannot use them. When more peopl...

I don't think love is something we can give to all people, unless you equate it with "comradeship" or something similar. And I think it's quite possib...

Well, we've been engaged in defining "love" for quite some time, haven't we? Plato nearly beat it into the ground in his Symposium. Aristotle, that re...

For my part, the Roman Stoics. Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius. Musonius Rufus if you can find his work. CBT has its basis in Stoicism. "Happiness ...

Just so. The priest, in asking Willy Sutton why he robs banks, was asking him to explain why he did so. So he told him why, though not directly, altho...

I'm a cynic (in the common sense) trying to be a Stoic (in the uncommon sense). So, I have what may be a peculiar view on this issue. I think this lac...

There's a certain danger in being desired or thought desirable by men, it seems. The "bad" women to such as Goethe would probably be those who arouse ...

It seems to me that throughout our sad history, we males when taken together have for various reasons characterized women as either impossibly bad or ...

God's teeth! How did I miss this savagery? The old Elizabethan (I think) exclamation appears pretentious, I know, but strikes me as appropriate since ...

So, had Plato known of tobacco, he would have defined man as "a featherless biped capable of smoking." In which case Diogenes would have appeared bran...

I like both, and as the Empire was both Roman (Latin) and Greek, respect ancient Greek though I know far less about it than I do of Latin--and my know...