Logic and reason – Scripturient

Decades, centuries and millennia

January 1 is NOT the start of a new decade. To the CBC and the other arithmetically-challenged media who insist otherwise: it isn’t. You just don’t understand how to count to 10. No matter how you spin it, 9 years is not 10. And even if it was, starting or ending a decade or any other period of time has no magical significance. Neither history nor culture, neither politics nor science work along calendrical timelines and our own calendar is an arbitrary construct for convenience … click below for more ↓

Channelling John Stuart Mill

2018-07-26 2018-07-26 Books & Reviews / Ethics & morality / Logic and reason / Philosophy / Political philosophy / Politics / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

In the opening few pages of his essay On Liberty, John Stuart Mill warned about the “tyranny of the prevailing opinion.” Anyone familiar with the mob mentality than can erupt on social media, its potential for divisiveness and the platform’s inherent weakness to be manipulated by outside forces (such as Russia) would consider Mill’s words as topical today. Mill was writing in this essay about, “…the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual” and how to … click below for more ↓

The bucket list, kicked

2016-10-14 2016-10-16 Critical Thinking / Culture / Internet & Social Media / Logic and reason / Memes; Internet & Social / New Age Codswallop / Personal Reminiscences / Philosophy2 Comments

Nowadays the “bucket list” concept has become a wildly popular cultural meme, thanks to the movie of the same name. Subsequent marketing of the idea to millennials has proven a successful means to derive them of their income, with which they seem eager to part. I don’t like the concept. The list, I mean, not necessarily the plucking of the millennial chickens who willingly hand over their financial feathers. They get what they deserve. Bucketlist.org has, at the time of this writing, more than 5.317 … click below for more ↓

A cunning plan

2016-07-19 2016-07-19 Ethics & morality / Logic and reason / Politics / US PoliticsOne Comment

I see Donald Trump’s plan to utterly eviscerate the Republican Party is working very well. Just look who he picked as his running mate: possibly the only white man more bigoted, vile, close-minded, racist and misogynistic than the passel of presidential candidates Trump bested earlier.* Brilliant. You couldn’t do more than that to alienate the remaining American intelligensia, the moderates, the women, the Latinos, the blacks, the Jews, the Muslims, the gays… now pretty much every social, racial, educational and cultural group has an opportunity … click below for more ↓

Stoic or Epicurean?

2016-05-15 2016-05-16 Books & Reviews / Classics / Ethics & morality / Logic and reason / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

I’ve been listening to the History of Rome podcasts of late and was pondering on some of the comments about the emperor Marcus Aurelius. He was, before listening, one of my top three choices for best ruler of the empire. What better role model than the philosopher-king? Now, I’m not so sure that he managed both the empire and his own position as well as I had assumed. But that’s neither here nor there. What caught my attention was the narrator’s comments on the philosophical life of … click below for more ↓

In Search of Kant’s Categorical Imperative

2015-12-05 2015-12-09 Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Ethics & morality / Logic and reason / PhilosophyOne Comment

I have not read Immanuel Kant. Until recently, I did not feel at all apologetic about that statement. But when I watched the video above, I realized how much I was missing. A remarkable thinker, he proves to be, whose thoughts about society, religion, behaviour and politics appear at first glance quite akin to my own cogitations. And in many ways, his conclusions – at least as stated in the video – seem very Buddhist in nature. That “categorical imperative” seems most intriguing, and familiar … click below for more ↓

Logical Fallacies

2014-10-21 2017-06-06 Collingwood / Critical Thinking / Logic and reason / Philosophy / Politics6 Comments

Last night at council I referred to seeing what I believed was a >post hoc fallacy in a report, or more properly a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Yeah, I probably annoyed some folks in the audience because I used Latin words and that confused them. But hey, they already think I’m a jerk because I can spell words like egregious and nefarious without using spellcheck, so I doubt I lost any votes over it. It means an error in assigning a causal relationship between … click below for more ↓