Schools of Philosophy: Greek Schools After Socrates
Schools of Philosophy: The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
The Father of Western Philosophy
Philosophy Today (20th Century)
Philosophy today began with a shift away from “I” as the Key to understanding reality. Instead, thinkers started probing into human “structures”. Language, science, and society itself all came under scrutiny. One of the most important changes in philosophy today ids the emphasis put on words and how they reflect the world. Continue reading
Spinoza: The ethics of God
Spinoza: The level of Knowledge
Religion and Spirituality
Growth of interest in spirituality: Traditionally, spirituality has always been viewed within the framework of a specific religious group. Thus, there have been multiple spiritualities associated with various saints in Roman Catholicism, as well as different spiritual paths to be found within the context of particular interpretations of Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism. In this sense, spirituality has been understood as the concrete set of beliefs and practices by which a person journeyed on a particular religious path. The connection between formal religious structures and spirituality, in this understanding, is integral. Continue reading
Religion and Growing Feminism
Growing feminism and sensitivity to women’s issues: Feminism has become a significant issue within the religious world.This concern has been expressed in a wide variety of different forms. Theologically, it has challenged understandings of God, human persons and the world of nature that some argue were implicitly rooted in male perspectives. Politically, it has striven to increase the level and scope of Woman’s leadership. Continue reading
“Greening” of Religion!
“Greening” of Religion: This involves growing consciousness among religious groups and individuals of the importance of environment concerns. Such consciousness frequently has been a part of the mainstream in many Asian religions but even though individuals like St. Francis of Assisi in the Christian tradition held perspectives that emphasised the relations between humans and nature, it is only recently that Christianity as a whole has become more sensitised to the religious dimension of the relationship between people and the wider environment. Continue reading
An odd philosopher couple whose love affair lasted 50 years!
Two philosophers in one body!
A philosopher whose books revolutionized teaching methods in the US.
A philosopher who wasn’t a stuffed shirt with the ladies!
Karl Marx: Private Property and “Estranged, Alienated Labour”
We have started out from the premises of political economy. We have accepted its language and its laws. We presupposed private property; the separation of labour, capital, and land, and likewise of wages, profit, and capital; the division of labour; competition; the conception of exchange value, etc. Continue reading
Aristotle on: “Friendship, Love, Well-wishing, and Unanimity”
Friendship: Friendship is a kind of virtue, or implies virtue, and it is also most necessary for living. Nobody would choose to live without friends even if he had all the other good things. Aristotle takes up the subject of what is lovable. He returns to his three “objects of choice”: goodness, usefulness, and pleasure, each corresponding to one of the types of love. These are the three reasons humans have for loving an object or a person. Aristotle removes the love of objects from the discussion, since we do not call that friendship. Continue reading
Stoics’ APATHEIA
Apatheia is a state of mind in Stoic philosophy in which one is free from emotional disturbance; the freedom from all passions. Apatheia is the root for the word “apathy” (i.e., indifference), but the ancient meaning of apatheia is closer to equanimity than indifference. To some extent, the Stoic term “apatheia” is misleading, even in the ancient Stoics’ own cultural context. In fact, the Stoic view is that the wise and virtuous person will have some feelings. The wise person experiences not delight but joy (at living a wise life); not fear but caution (which prevents her from agreeing with false appearances); not lust for preferred things but wish (that one choose well and not badly). So, Stoic happiness is not altogether devoid of feeling. Continue reading
Aristotelian ethics versus Stoicism
Agreements between the Two Views:
(1) The goal of ethical philosophy is practical: the improvement of human lives, the promotion of happiness (the blessed or supremely good life). (2) hat happiness is also the ultimate end (goal) of human life.(3) That happiness is the most complete end. (4) That happiness is self-sufficient.
To say that it is the most complete end is just to say that other things are done for its sake, but it is desired for its own sake and for nothing further. Continue reading
Epicurus’ ATARAXIA
Epicurus is considered a major figure in the history of science as well as philosophy. In ethics he is famous for propounding the theory of hedonism, which holds that pleasure is the only intrinsic value. However, his view of pleasure is far from the stereotypical one. For Epicurus, the most pleasant life is one where we abstain from unnecessary desires and achieve an inner tranquility (ataraxia) by being content with simple things, and by choosing the pleasure of philosophical conversation with friends. To understand the teaching of Epicurus’ ataraxia, it is required to discuss on his ethics. Continue reading
Epicurus on “Death”
Epicurus claims that there are two self-imposed beliefs that do the most to make our lives unhappy or full of pain. They are first, the belief that we will be punished by the gods for our bad actions, and second, that death is something to be feared. Both of these beliefs produce fear and anxiety, and are completely unnecessary since they are based on fictions. While the gods do indeed exist, being perfect and eternal they do not directly concern themselves with human affairs. As such, we have no need to fear any punishment from them, nor do we need to spend time Continue reading
Epicurus: “Types of Pleasure”
For Epicurus, pleasure is tied closely to satisfying one’s desires. He distinguishes between two different types of pleasure: ‘moving’ pleasures and ‘static’ pleasures. ‘Moving’ pleasures occur when one is in the process of satisfying a desire, e.g., eating a hamburger when one is hungry. These pleasures involve an active titillation of the senses, and these feelings are what most people call ‘pleasure.’ Continue reading
Epicurus on “Virtue” and “Justice”
The virtues: Epicurus’ hedonism was widely denounced in the ancient world as undermining traditional morality. Epicurus, however, insists that courage, moderation, and the other virtues are needed in order to attain happiness. However, the virtues for Epicurus are all purely instrumental goods–that is, they are valuable solely for the sake of the happiness that they can bring oneself, not for their own sake. Epicurus says that all of the virtues are ultimately forms of prudence, of calculating what is in one’s own best interest. In this, Epicurus goes against the majority of Greek ethical theorists, Continue reading
Epicurus: “Types of Desire”
Because of the close connection of pleasure with desire-satisfaction, Epicurus devotes a considerable part of his ethics to analysing different kinds of desires. If pleasure results from getting what you want (desire-satisfaction) and pain from not getting what you want (desire-frustration), then there are two strategies you can pursue with respect to any given desire: Continue reading
“Friendship or Love” sumarrised from the book: “Nicomachean Ethics”, by: Aristotle
BOOK VIII: FRIENDSHIP OR LOVE
Aristotle argues that friendship is a sort of virtue, or at least implies virtue. He believes that no one would care to live without friends, even though he had all other good things, as well as power and authority, Continue reading
Kingly government, Aristocracy, and Timocracy: Their perversion and corresponding forms of friendship
There are three kinds of constitutions, and an equal number of perverted forms, which are, so to speak, corruptions of these. Constitutions proper are kingly government, aristocracy, and timocracy. Timocracy is a form of government based upon an assessment of property, though most people are wont to speak of it as constitutional government simply. Of these, kingly government is the best and timocracy the worst. Continue reading
Philosophy, the handmaiden of theology?!!
Quotes from the book: “The Game”, by: Neil Strauss
If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you have always gotten.
Our social skills determine the course of our lives-our careers, our friends, our family, our children, our happiness- that’s a big area to neglect.
This game is not an easy one. You will be forced to confront nearly every single thing that defines you. What separates an amateur from a champion is the willingness to push through that fear and do it anyway. And that’s what most people lack: having the gut, the gut to go in and just say: Continue reading
Quotes from the book: “Tell to Win”, by: Peter Guber
A message everybody should take to heart: “Behind every success there is a good story lurking.”You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Heroes do not quit, so the only true failure is the failure to get up, and it proves to me that compelling heroes and purposeful stories lurk in every corner of our lives, ready for the telling.
Nothing grabs our attention faster than the need to know what happens next. Continue reading
The gossip facet of my life.
Christianity and Medieval Philosophy, Summarized from the book: “History of Philosophy”, by: Julian Marias
CHRISTIANITY
1. Christianity and Philosophy
Christianity marks the most profound division in the history of philosophy; it separates the two great phases of Western thought. However, it would be wrong to think of Christianity as a philosophy; it is something quite different—a religion. Nor can one speak precisely of “Christian philosophy,” if the adjective “Christian” is meant to define the character of the philosophy. The only philosophy that we can call Christian philosophy is the philosophy of Christians as Christians; that is, that philosophy which is shaped by the Christian situation from which a particular philosopher begins to philosophize. I n this sense Christianity has played a decisive role in the history of metaphysics, because it has essentially altered the presuppositions upon which man bases his thought and actions and, therefore, the situation from which he must philosophize. The Christian is different and therefore his philosophy is also different; for example, different from Greek philosophy. Continue reading
Quotes from the book: “The Purpose Driven Life” by: Rick Warren
Your life is worth taking the time to think about it. What on earth am I here for?
Many people try to use God for their own self-actualization, but that is a reversal of nature and is doomed to failure. You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose. Continue reading
The fool does not understand the full implication of what he is saying!!
St. Anselm’s ontological argument
St. Anselm’s life and work: ¨He was born in 1033 and died in 1109. He was from Aosta, in Piedmont. As a member of the medieval Christian and of the European community which had begun to take shape, he did not restrict his life and activity to the country of his origin, but lived principally in France and England. Continue reading
Clocks can tell you nothing about the real nature of “time.”
Some say 20th-century philosophy began with Edmund Husserl. He invented a new way of looking at the world. He called it “phenomenology”, meaning “how things appear”. Husserl wanted to find a foolproof method of meaning reality. Descartes‘ idea of doubting everything was a big ingredient of his philosophy. Like Descartes, he believed that consciousness is the key. Continue reading
Nietzsche and the Persian
When Nietzsche was a boy he was called “the little pastor”. His father was a Lutheran preacher. He expected to be a clergyman like his father, but at university he began to question his upbringing. He became a professor at the age of 24. He decided that Christianity robbed people of the will to excel. His ideal was the artistic warrior hero of ancient Greek. In his eyes, people were not created equal. There were men, and there were supermen. Nietzsche’s “superman” combined strength, intellect, and creativity.Nietzsche thought that these “higher” beings were the key to future. He thought the Christian era had had its day. That was the message behind his statement: God is dead. Continue reading
Many avocations but not a vocation!!
Stoicism’s influence on Christianity
Since the Renaissance Stoic ethics and some aspects of the stoic view of nature have attracted those who have found it impossible either to accept Christianity or to lapse into complete atheism. The Stoic sage’s sense of duty, his concern for others, his constancy, his independence of external conditions, and his freedom from irrational impulses have offered a secular moral that has influenced philosophers as different as Spinoza, Hume, and Kant. Continue reading
Interesting Facts about Chinese Art and Thought
Briefness, Disconnectedness, and Suggestiveness
When one begins to read Chinese philosophical works, the first impression one gets is perhaps the briefness and disconnectedness of the sayings and writings of their authors. Open the Confucian Analects and you will see that each paragraph consists of only a few words, and there is hardly any connection between one paragraph and the next. Open a book containing the philosophy of Lao Tzu, and you will find that the whole book consists of about five thousand words- no longer than a magazine article; yet in it one will find the whole of his philosophy. Continue reading
To you, what is “Reality”?
Do you believe in the existence of “Soul”?
See what are the ideas of a couple of the most well-known Greek philosophers about it.
Aristotle distinguished between three types of soul in order to indicate the three different ways a body can be organized. He called these the vegetative, sensitive, and rational souls. They represent various capacities of a body for activity, the first being simply the act of living, the second both living and sensing, and the third a body that includes living, sensing, and thinking.
The human soul combines in itself all the lower forms of soul, the vegetative, nutritive, and sensitive, having in addition to these the rational soul. Continue reading
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Comparison between Thailand, Germany, and Iran)
“Mermaid = Fish + Woman”
A philosopher who believed in equality of people was in charge of slave trade !!
Ethical decision-making of Hospitality and Tourism Students (Effect of Type of Dilemma and Gender)
A great man who stayed true to his principles
Spinoza was a Dutch Jew of Spanish descent, whose parents had come to Amsterdam to escape persecution from the Catholic Church due to the plight of the Jews in 16th-century Spain. Yews were forced to become Catholics or flee the country. Spinoza as a youth, studied the Jewish philosophers , but the most abiding influence on his thinking was Descartes. Like Descartes, Spinoza believed that reason is how people make sense of the world. But whereas Descartes had said that the universe is made up of two things – mind and matter, Spinoza said that there is only one substance – God. God and the universe and everything in it are one and the same. Continue reading
“I am cautious therefore I am!!”
“To take away the cause is to take away the effect”
Thomas Aquinas was the son of an Italian nobleman. He was educated in a monastery, like many children during Middle Ages. This 13th century friar said that faith and reason were often two paths to the same end. He combined the philosophy of Aristotle with the Christian religion. He argued that without God there would be no universe: “To take away the cause is to take away the effect”. Continue reading
A synoptic account of two similar events: Happened to an ordinary citizen and a philosopher
Stoicism: Go with the flow!
Stoics believed that they were part of a divine plan and that whatever happened was meant to be. Stoics got their name because Zeno taught from a porch (stoa in Greek). To the stoics, a good life meant a virtuous one. They refused to be ruled by their feelings, because emotions just got in the way of good judgement. Their philosophy was to put up with their lot in life. Stoics didn’t try to fight fate.Their motto was “go with the flow”. Wanting what they couldn’t have could only bring unhappiness. They decided to want whatever they got – this way they could never feel let down.
Epicureanism: Don’t worry! Be happy!
An interesting “Puzzle”
One Friday a professor announced to her class that on one of their five meeting days during the next week, she would administer to them a surprise quiz. The class would not know which of the five days it would take place until the morning in which it was actually to be given. One of her students argued as follows: Continue reading