Ciceronianus

Long ago, I was a philosophy major. I became a lawyer. The members of the philosophy department at the college I attended were devoted to analytic phi...

From Wallace Stevens Esthetique du Mal: XII He disposes the world in categories, thus: The peopled and the unpeopled. In both, he is Alone. But in the...

You know, the Leader is saying exactly what Plato's Philosopher-King would say, though far less succinctly.

Commodus is something of a problem for admirers of Marcus Aurelius. He may not have been quite the monster he's made out to be. I think we have to tak...

I agree with you (mirabile dictu). I would add it's probably the most urgent challenge. The need you mention may account for the resurgence of interes...

They have their naturalism in common; both see human beings as parts of (and active participants in) nature rather than apart from it. Both consider n...

Ciceronianus, i.e. the Ciceronian; an admirer (for the most part) of Marcus Tullius Cicero and like him a lawyer with philosophical interests, and lik...

There's no "common sense" defense to claims of sexual harassment in the wonderful world of the law. Those who complain that "common sense" establishes...

I think it's inappropriate to refer to the extraordinarily wealthy as deserving or admirable in any respect because they have far more than they could...

In part, the excessive regard we in America have for guns has fear as its basis; fear, and the attitude of belligerence thought necessary to make that...

It's a legal right here in God's favorite country, nothing more, nothing less. Like other legal rights, it may be limited, modified and even repealed....

Behold the definition of "sexual harassment" according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including some explanatory comment: "Unwelcome ...

"That strange flower, the sun, Is just what you say. Have it your way. The world is ugly, And the people are sad. That tuft of jungle feathers, That a...

Speaking as someone who isn't a professional philosopher, I think "quietist" philosophers like Wittgenstein, Austin and Ryle have done good and import...

"Assault rifles" are legal, if by that is meant semi-automatics. Semi-automatic guns are self-loading (you don't have to manually load after every sho...

Handguns are terrifyingly inaccurate. I think TV series and movies about the "Old West" have persuaded too many of us that they can be handled with co...

Thank you. As for the NRA, understand my quarrel is with its leadership, not necessarily its members.

Certainly I'm guessing. Hell, we can't even know whether we're seeing a tree or a mental construct.

Yes, but it also opposes state concealed carry permit laws. Thus the push for reciprocity or a single federal law. The NRA, like gun manufacturers, wa...

You're more optimistic than I am. But, perhaps you're right. Then we may take comfort in the fact that, e.g., only 40% of those carrying guns have no ...

Well, it was a vastly different time, as too many fail to consider. It's likely most everyone had guns then, and that many used them even to get food ...

Well, we could exchange articles on the NRA and its connections with gun manufacturers all day, no doubt. Try this one:http://fortune.com/2016/01/05/n...

Sorry Tiff, but I find the thought of a "good guy with a gun" firing away at bad guys rather frightening because, as I've said before, I doubt the maj...

Sometimes we're mistaken in identifying something. Sometimes we suffer from a disorder of some kind, which impedes our vision. Sometimes we need glass...

"Glibly", forsooth. The fact that two things are dissimilar gives us good reason to think they're not the same. If hallucinations and dreams are unlik...

I'm not sure what you would consider a "difference" in this case, if you maintain that the experience is the same regardless of the differences you ac...

I think Michael is saying they are not different.

I find it difficult to accept that we're having the same experience when hallucinating or dreaming that we have when we're not. If that's the case, wh...

I don't want to pretend that I've kept up with the direct realism debate, but I think this would be an issue only if it's assumed that what happens wh...

Well, for me, I think what happens in dreams isn't at all like what happens when I'm not dreaming. I feel quite capable of distinguishing being awake ...

Consider the possibility that we don't perceive a tree, or mental construct, or anything else when we dream. We're simply dreaming. Dreaming isn't som...

Well, I would say simply that animals differ in some ways. Living organisms aren't uniform; they have different characteristics. So, they may interact...

That may well be. But, I don't think they "smell" a mental construct in that case, nor do I think the fact that we may systematize our experiences dif...

When a dog pisses on a tree, does it behold, and piss on, a mental construct? I would say "no." I would say the dog is simply a creature that's a part...

Ah. Sorry, but I had in mind that which causes the impulse to commit suicide, not the means chosen. If the goal is to reduce suicides it would seem be...

Government's ability to regulate or control suicide is limited. Some, like Nietzsche, and the Stoics, would consider such regulation unwarranted; suic...

Well, yes, of course the concepts of good and bad, and therefore the notion that there may be good people and bad people who can be identified as such...

Hmm. I'm unsure what the point of this remark may be. Law abiding citizens need not train in the use of firearms because those who break the law don't...

The bus incident you refer to didn't involve the use of a firearm, though. That, apparently, was unnecessary. But guns when carried will be used, even...

Someone carrying a gun always intends to use it. Why else carry a gun? Nobody carries a gun with the intent not to use it. That includes what is calle...

Strange how a dispute about guns can so easily become one about sex. Anyone ever see the 1970s film Zardoz? "THE GUN IS GOOD. THE PENIS IS EVIL" Thus ...

It would be even sillier, and indeed creepy, I think, to want to own one because it looks like a scary military weapon. Regardless, though, the one I'...

Perhaps. But the militias, as I understand it, were at the service of government; primarily state and local but also, in some instances, the federal g...

I can't help but wonder why someone would shoulder the burden of supporting a child for so many years simply because they believe that 15-20 years in ...

First, let me note that I'm a gun owner. I own two shotguns. I use them to blow clay discs or "pigeons" apart, an activity I find oddly satisfying. Th...

Which is to say, I think, that it's bad or undesirable to be a person, given the absolute nature of the anti-natalist position as I understand it. Aga...

I was seeking clarification, but was unclear. I was wondering when, if ever, the OP felt a father has an obligation to support his child. Presumably, ...

Yes, but in that case he'll at least be referring to people, and evaluating their conduct or experience. He won't be purporting to say something regar...

Well, I think people must exist. There are no people who don't exist. There are no people who don't exist whose existence may or may not continue. One...

I'm not sure what it is you find offensive here. Do you feel a father should not be responsible for child support unless he knows he has a child? Do y...