Tag Archives: skepticism
The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight
“The owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk.” So wrote G. W. F. Hegel, the nineteenth century’s major philosopher of history. By that he meant that any given phase of history can be understood only in retrospect – after … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, 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, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Industrial Revolution, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Racism, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romanticism, science, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged ancient skepticism, anthropic principle, Antony Flew’s There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, brainwashing, cancel culture and desire, cancel culture and social power, chance and life’s origin, coerced confessions, culture and the absolute, culture and ultimate truth, Darwin and chance, Darwinian evolution, decoding present history, desire and erotic skepticism, erotic manipulation, foreseeing the future, Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man, Fukuyama and liberal democracy, G.W.F. Hegel, George Orwell's 1984, guilt and social power, Hegel and history, historical eros, ideology and tyranny, intelligibility of history, laws of probability and evolution, liberal democratic values, Mind Control, Modernity, my story and humanity’s story, natural purposes, ostracism and social power, owl of Minerva, personal story and world history, philosophy and teleology, postmodern skepticism, postmodernism and denial, psychoanalysis, purposiveness in nature, reading the Zeitgeist, Robert Jay Lifton's Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China, skepticism, skepticism and biological nature, skepticism in history, Sy Garte’s The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith, teleology, the big picture, the bird’s eye view of history, The Owl of Minerva and history, theology and teleology, Ukraine and Western nations, Ukraine as a test of values, understanding the present, world history and liberal democracy
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Times Best and Worst
Times Best and Worst We’re living through what are — like all times — the best and worst of times. As our calendar wends its way toward the New Year, we can’t help asking ourselves how it is with us … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, science, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Analytic philosophy, Antonio Gramsci, Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, Australian philosophy, best of times, computational perceptional psychology, Continental philosophy, cultural relativism, culture and dialectic, culture and truth, David Stove, ecological psychology, epistemology of doubt, fashionable nihilism, Foucault's Birth of the Clinic, Foucault's Madness and Civilization, Freudian unconscious, human norms, insanity and social power, J.J. Gibson, life adventures, life review, masters of suspicion, Michel Foucault, moral reality, nature and convention, New Year, objective fact, objective guilt v intentions, ordinary language, perceiving reality, Phyllis Chesler's Women and Madness, prevailing opinions, purge trials, Reign of Terror, relativism, revolution and delusion, Sartre's critique of Freud, Sartre's for-itself, Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, science and experience, scientific objectivity, sense data, skepticism, skepticism as a fashion, the fact/value split, the hermeneutics of suspicion, The Vienna Circle, thought leaders, totalitarian tactics, true narrative, trusting experience, Tyler Burge's Four Inheritances from Classical Empiricism Re Perception, virtue epistemology, Woke bully, worst of times
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The Meaning of Meaninglessness
I’m reading a book by a philosopher named Susan Wolf about the meaning of life. Or rather, about the importance of meaning in a good life. What prompts such a book? you may ask. Susan Wolf explains that philosophers have … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged curing depression, cynicism, definitions of the good life, depression, despair, empirical evidence, facts and theories, fashionable theories, finding your path, having a passion, human purposes, identity theory, life after death, life’s purposes, little things, meaning of life, meaning of meaning, meaninglessness, mind and brain, opinion shapers, passion for philosophy, personal quandary, philosopher’s books, philosophers, philosophic authors, pointlesslessness, quality time, quantity and quality, skepticism, socially constructed beliefs, socially constructed values, Susan Wolf’s Meaning in Life and Why It Matters, the absurd, the search for meaning, too brief to matter, too small to matter, value judgments, what happens when we die, worldviews
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The Horse Knows
The Horse Knows As a child, I regarded animals as people. Particularly large animals, like the big dog that followed me around when we were at Hilltop, the bungalow colony in New Jersey where my family spent summers. They looked … Continue reading
Posted in Action, Art of Living, beauty, books, Childhood, Contemplation, Cool, Courage, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Faith, Femininity, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Literature, Love, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, Romanticism, self-deception, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged adult insincerity, animal ethology, animal intelligence, animal/human relations, animals are people, canine affection, caregiver’s stress, caregiver’s symptoms, cat lovers, childhood, children’s books, coping strategies, cynicism, denial syndrome, dog lovers, Epistemology, Equine Gestalt Coaching Method, Gestalt Therapy, getting thrown, horse as friend, horse knowledge, horse perceptiveness, horse sense, horse therapy, human tears, illustrated books, integrity, intelligibility, Joan Summers, kid stuff, lead mare, Mowgli, Mowgli’s friends, pets are people, philosophy teacher, relativism, Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, self evidence, self-deception, self-discovery, skepticism, soul-deadening, Step Into Joy Healing Arts, super-educated
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What’s With the Nothing?
What’s With the Nothing? In the mornings, when I sit for meditation, I ask for input from On High and generally aspire to learn what the day should hold for me if I orient rightly. Normally, the answers I get … Continue reading
Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, beauty, Biblical God, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Femininity, Freedom, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Masculinity, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", absurdity, bigotry, blaming Israel, class hatred, conflict resolution, Continental philosophy, deep thinking, divine guidance, emptiness, evil doers, existentialists, global consensus, God in the world, happy every after, ideological conflict, intuitive insight, Israel, Jews, Martin Heidegger, meditation, nihilism, philosophers in cafes, Plato's Republic, pointlessness, political differences, Poussin’s Et in Arcadia ego, prayer input, psychical differences, purpose of life, race prejudice, received opinion, receptivity, root canal surgery, saving the planet, self-assurance, self-discovery, self-knowledge, self-realization, self-trust, skepticism, stereotyping, the big picture, The Nothing, trusting intuition, unforced agreement, who am I?
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