Tag Archives: political justice

The Ring of Gyges

There is a story that Plato tells in The Republic, his dialogue on political justice. Here’s how it goes. It starts with a man named Gyges. Everyone considered him to be a normal fellow. There was nothing odd about him. … Continue reading

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, agnosticism, alienation, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, Nihilism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, repairing the culture, roles, science, scientism, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Soul Writ Large

The Soul Writ Large Plato wrote a dialogue on political justice.  In English it’s titled The Republic. Besides Socrates, the major speakers are Plato’s two brothers.  They are trying to solve a problem that’s been set up by an intruder … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, oppression, past and future, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Real Life and the Philosophic Life

Real Life and the Philosophic Life Is there any connection between the two? The book I recently fell in love with, John Kaag’s American Philosophy: A Love Story, was heartening to me on two fronts. First, the American philosophers, whose … Continue reading

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, faith, freedom, friendship, gender balance, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, immortality, law, legal responsibility, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, memory, nineteenth-century, past and future, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, presence, promissory notes, psychology, public intellectual, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, scientism, social construction, social conventions, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, time, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments