Erik

It's also been a very long time since I read Popper's work but I vaguely recall some of his criticisms of Plato, Hegel and Marx being compelling. I ac...

I'm by no means as philosophically adept as most posters on this forum, yet I found both Philosophy of History and Philosophy of Right to be fairly ea...

Hmm I'd imagine that's a complex issue. Jews have been historically oppressed - think about the story of Jewish enslavement and eventual freedom from ...

Yes there's a strange convergence of interests between groups that otherwise hate each other. I haven't read much Zizek, but from what I have read he ...

The comment may have been flippant but I don't think you're too far off. It really does seem to boil down to both sides being able to sympathize with ...

Thanks for the clarification regarding the interest evangelicals have in supporting Israel. But hey, if it says it in the Bible then it must be true, ...

I assumed there were way more secular than religious Jews both in and outside of Israel, but it's good to know about the historical/religious signific...

Indeed it is. IMO this is an example of why people tend to turn towards the political Left in college when confronted with facts about our actions aro...

That's a good point. We know very well what the reaction would be, and the condemnation would come down most heavily from the very people who justify ...

Sounds good. That was a tough call for you guys and I can see the rationale behind either decision.

Dude, I was reading that "farts" thread more thoroughly than I do most others around here, at least up until mention was made of lighting a match with...

:up: I respect the decision too. This case may be one of those rare scenarios in which a topic that should have been deleted right from the start, at ...

Many posters did take it seriously though. I would have liked for the mods to have made an exception to the rules in this case and allowed the topic t...

Yeah if I recall correctly he said he's being serious, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's telling the truth. I've seen people engage in these sort...

Is the discussion really meant to be taken seriously? I assumed with Baden (I believe) that Jake was being playful, and I was a little surprised other...

Second article was pretty uncharitable imo, full of hubris and caricatures and straw men, which is not quite what I'd expect from a writer who clearly...

An individual's social status and economic condition seem inextricable linked in this country, which makes the either/or scenario a bit odd. But I'll ...

Ah ok I missed those.

@"Hanover" As a neutral observer, where did he say or imply that there was anything good about Nazism? One can be fascinated in many things while also...

I never quite understood the interpretation of Heraclitus as the "weeping philosopher." For example, he praised war as the "father and king of all," h...

Thanks, Baden. It was definitely cathartic!

Deleted overly cynical rant.

:up:

I think I'm one of those idiots - or was it imbeciles? - referenced by Zizek above. I can't tell whether these convos are friendly repartee or the pla...

Yeah I was impressed with @"csalisbury"'s last post as well. He clearly got the angle I was coming from: I'm not against trying to understand the caus...

My purpose in bringing this up was simply to show that the town I live in has a relatively high level of social capital. I guess the distinction betwe...

I think it was a pretty good point that unenlightened made, too, in that it indicates how much this type of thinking has infiltrated our approach to p...

You've established your credentials as someone who loathes Trump, and understandably so I might add. That being said, the idea that Trump is an unethi...

Darn. I'll be keeping Archie and the rest of your family in my thoughts.

Yes, this is exactly what I had in mind! To restore that natural curiosity and love of learning after it's been strangled to death through traditional...

I'll take a stab. The primary purpose of education is to inspire a lifelong love of learning in the student and a corresponding awareness of the possi...

Fair enough. Party platforms seem to be in perpetual flux so it's hard to pin down specific positions - especially concerning cultural issues - which ...

Well I'm almost positive you'll dispute my interpretation (straw man) given the ambiguity of the topic, but my sense is that there's less tolerance am...

Yay! Congrats on your new baby, Benkei.

I think the distinction is that Democrats in the US seem to be moving more and more to the left culturally while simultaneously moving to the right on...

This reminds me of one of those counter-intuitive quotes from Heraclitus which I've thought about quite often: "Man is most nearly himself when he ach...

Haha you're probably right about that. But can't one have a little fun in academia? I guess this is an indication of the democratic instinct in me tha...

I agree with that assessment concerning the strength of the instinct. While Francis Fukuyama has been wrong on a number of things I do think he makes ...

From the article: "The political scientist Scott Althaus has calculated that a voter with more knowledge of politics will, on balance, be less eager t...

I share your disgust with the system of values, practices, institutions, etc. underlying our modern Western societies. I also think your position on e...

Interesting. In addition to extending the "blessings" of (legal) adulthood, would you also expose younger people to the burdens of being an adult at a...

:up: Well said.

Going off recollection I think Andrew has acknowledged those points before. I personally think the term white privilege is aggressive and alienating, ...

I thought about this while reading through some of Peterson's ideas. I'm not an expert on Marxism but it would seem as though one who subscribes to th...

I like the way you pitched that and it makes sense to me. Something like hermeneutic phenomenology complementing investigations of other "regional" sc...

I absolutely agree with you that there may be significant points of convergence between the two sides in the debate. I've actually spent a good deal o...

I wonder if the methods of science are the only ones that count as empirical? I'm thinking for instance of Heidegger's phenomenological investigation ...

No no not your conclusions, but the conclusions of those who hold the position that change ipso facto is positive. I should have made that clear.

Most don't of course. But the larger point is that one can be a radical historicist, a fierce critic of the modern world as being essentially nihilist...

I'll re-read the specific post I responded to - and I only responded to one of the many questions you posed - before commenting in detail. Quickly tho...