Category: Philosophy
More Moloch…
New Mere O friend John Schroeder of Blogotional is worried that I’m spending too much time in the ivory tower. Apparently, he thinks that I’ve spent so much time up there that he needs to point out when he’s making...
Moloch will eat his children…..
Check out this provocative piece from Meghan Cox Gurdon in NRO, in which she draws a parallel between cannabilism and stem cell research. It’s written in the style of Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, though it lacks the wit. A snippet: “I...
Moral Relativism and the Air Force
One week ago I returned from a six week training school in Montgomery, AL. The program, Air and Space Basic Course (ASBC), is the first step in Air Force mandated professional military education and serves as a catch-all for second...
Humour’s purpose
Hypothesis 1: One purpose of humour is to make palatable truths so horrible and terrible that we would otherwise ignore them entirely. I take “humour” to mean something like the presentation of some speech or image whose intention is to...
Being skeptical or suitably critical and E.T.
Circular asked me what defines skeptical in response to a comment I made to his post on E.T. Your question is a very deep and important one. The line between being “suitably critical” and being “skeptical” is difficult to draw....
Literary Criticism and Epistemology
For some time I have been bothered by the phenomenon of 20th C. literary criticism of all varieties: Marxist, feminist, post-colonial and the other smatterings. It just rubs me the wrong way. After remembering Rodrick Chisholm’s insightful article, “The Problem...
The problem with “Problem” – Part III
… There is one defense of the modern usage of the word that my housemate and award-winning debater put forth. “OK,” he said, “But ‘problem’ has a certain amount of intimidation value. If I can toss ‘the Problem of Evil’...
The problem with “Problem” – Part II
What is common to all of the cases mentioned below? Here is what I notice: They are all questions. (with the exception of the second “problem of evil” which was stated as a thesis) So in response to the question...
The problem with “Problem” – Part I
Why do we refer to things as “problems”? You may say I’m picky, but I think word choice is the most important thing… Plus the name you give a thing influences how in what way we’ll approach it. If we...
Plato’s Euthyphro versus Aristophanes’ The Clouds
It’s nice to be blogging again! Greek and Roman philosophy are on my mind… Plato’s Euthyphro recounts the conversation Socrates had with Euthyphro, a religious leader, just before his trial. It comes out that this man is also awaiting a...