Ciceronianus

I'm late to this (language?) game. But I'd say it more properly has to do with context. "I promise" may create a contract, for example. What the act i...

Stoicism appeals to me because of its simplicity. No visions, no frenzy, no ennui; a simple and sensible acknowledgement of the folly of disturbing yo...

I wonder whether any of this amounts to more than the not very profound claim that we're human beings, and interact with our environment as human bein...

I don't know. It may be too late for that. They seem to be far older than philosophical pessimism. But Stoicism has also been called "Zenoism" or "Zen...

I think the fact a word like "pessimism" means something in ordinary discourse makes its use to describe a philosophical position inadvisable, as conf...

I didn't think I was mixing them. I merely say that "pessimism" as I understand it, as I would use it in a sentence, isn't "philosophical pessimism" a...

I tend to interpret "pessimist" and "optimist" according to their more common, less philosophical, meanings. I think I can be called a pessimist becau...

Not everything. Just the parts that are smug and parochial.

My point is simply that the Crusades were holy wars waged in the name of God, like jihad, and the crusaders were promised heaven if they died while wa...

Urban II called for the freeing of the Holy Sepulchre from the infidels, and offered the remission of sins to those who died while partipating in the ...

I assumed you were referring to what philosophers have called "the external world" (those parts of the world we interact with everyday), not the entir...

Indeed I have. The most popular if one can call it that, and successful of them, the Third Crusade, is of course a favorite as it featured Richard the...

And in what way is this supposed to differ from experiencing the world? Do you claim that thinking somehow removes us from the universe? It seems to m...

Oh dear. And what does "conceptualise" mean?

Avowed Christians have been ignoring the teachings of Jesus as stated in the Gospels as it suits them since they were written. But a little history: H...

Wow. Even I wouldn't go that far. But I must find a way to use this sentence in court. It's marvelous.

Perhaps. But I think that "what is the meaning of life?" is a question which wasn't asked antiquity in the sense it's asked now because it arises in t...

I've always though Nietzsche's amor fati was merely derived from Stoicism. That may be why he disliked the Stoics.

I think it's quite possible for mass hysteria to take place now, and it may be that it would be considered less extraordinary than the examples of the...

Does it mean anything at all? I don't mean life, I mean the question itself. What's being asked? How best to live? That isn't the same question, thoug...

Yes, that's the case now, in any event.

I hope you're right. But at least when it comes to elected officials, it seems that most are willing to follow Trump's lead regardless of their princi...

I'm uncertain whether there are any Conservatives left, since Bill Buckley died. Conservatives are against the intrusion of government in our lives. T...

Yes, if it was about morality "should" would be used, not "must." But while I face the issues of being human every day, they don't involve . Sorry.

A good question. Why indeed bother? But I dislike being told what I must think or feel by virtue of the fact I'm human. You see the "must" in that sen...

It's not clear to me that we don't have one already, although I can't say that it's organized. Let's say there are plenty of fascists, or crypto-fasci...

If I wasn't interested in this thread I wouldn't be posting in it. Whether it's claimed we're different, special, abnormal, whatever word you prefer, ...

I've never been known for my buoyancy. I'm not the most cheerful of individuals. I don't look on life as a gift. But, I think that our lives are large...

I'm uncertain how to describe the view that "we are not like the rest of existence" without understanding it to be a claim that we're separate from it...

I doubt anyone would claim we're the same as other animals in all respects, but our differences don't make us any less natural, nor do they doom us to...

Sorry, but I don't think there is a "human craving for justification on matters of life and death." I think some humans crave that, but it's foolish t...

Life isn't good or bad because I can't change it, nor is the cosmos. They merely are. My part is to live. I can (and do) live without judging the cosm...

We're alive. No amount of bewailing will change that; in fact, it will likely make us miserable (more miserable, if you prefer). Horror can be self-im...

Bad actors who use the words, you mean?

God's teeth. Why even consider such questions?

Who's this "self" anyway? As for the Truth, I thought it was supposed to set me free.

Which is merely to say that everybody is enslaved to themselves. It seems hardly worth while to consider, let alone refute, such a claim.

I've never understood anti-semitism. But that it still exists shouldn't be all that surprising. There are those of us who need someone to hate/blame, ...

It depends. Here in God's Favorite Country, or at least my part of it, most records concerning marriage and mortgages are duly recorded or registered ...

I confess I was being a bit silly myself.

And rum, sodomy and the lash as Churchill would say. Those English.

Well, I'm just a man, you know. Perhaps "plod on" is more to your taste. Or "endeavor to persevere." I won't explain that reference, for fear you'll w...

"Soldier on" means "to continue to do something or to try to achieve something even though it is difficult" according to Merriam-Webster Online. I'm n...

Well, we seem especially inclined to whine (sorry, write) about such questions, and in spectacular detail, it's true. But there are men of great wisdo...

Take the advice of Quintus Horatius Flaccus: tu ne quaesieris. There are no answers to these questions as they're intended. Just get on with life as b...

If you don't think there is a difference between constructing a building or a road and seeing a tree, we aren't going to get much farther than we have...

We do those things when we actually do them, not when we see something. It's a mere truism to say that we build buildings, roads, etc., and alter the ...

So it is. Perhaps this is perversion rather than affectation--turning away from or aside from what's generally done or accepted. I wonder though if mu...

I didn't know we were speaking of children, sorry I don't know what you mean by this.

[ Even philosophers manage to live as part of the world, whether they want or not. Some even hire lawyers when they encounter problems of a certain ki...