Philosophy – Page 5 – Scripturient

Crito: Doing What’s Right

In his dialogue, Crito, Plato has Socrates gently admonish his friend, Crito, for his concern over what the uneducated public might think, or might spread by rumour and gossip, and encourages him instead to focus his attention on those ‘reasonable people’ who know the facts and in doing what is right: “Why, my dear Crito, should we pay so much attention to what ‘most people’ think? The really reasonable people, who have much more claim to be considered, will believe that the facts are exactly as they are.” … 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 ↓

Skepticism Too Easily Slides Into Cynicism

2014-10-19 2014-10-19 Critical Thinking / Personal Reminiscences / PhilosophyLeave a comment

Years spent in the media, plus decades of independent practice as a writer and social critic honed my native skepticism into a protective psychological barrier against a wide range of social ailments and inappropriate, often dangerous beliefs. It has made me question motives, statements, logic and conclusions, and search for the underlying truths. It motivated me to explore, to examine, to dig deep. To try to understand, not simply deny. It’s an easy slide, however, from a healthy skepticism to a soul-destroying cynicism – using the modern sense of … click below for more ↓

Montaigne on Friendship, Liars and Politics

2014-10-13 2014-10-13 Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

“I am seeking the companionship and society of such men as we call honourable and talented,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay, On the Three Kinds of Social Intercourse (Book III, 3). “It is, when you reflect on it, the rarest of all our forms…” Montaigne was musing in his essay and others on the nature of not simply friendship, but on what attracted people to work, converse and share at the highest levels. To bond without some ulterior motive such as work, politics … click below for more ↓

Plato’s Apology

2014-10-01 2021-05-15 Critical Thinking / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Plato records the trial and death of Socrates in four dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo. I’ve been reading The Apology this week and finding in it references that reflect well in today’s world, particularly in politics.* In The Apology – which meant defence in Greek, not saying sorry as it does today – Socrates defends himself against his accusers in a deft and bold way, but he loses his case anyway. Still, he defended himself by telling the truth, off-the-cuff and spontaneously. The Jowett translation … click below for more ↓

Montaigne: The Depravity of Our Morals

2014-09-29 2014-09-29 Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Philosophy / PoliticsLeave a comment

“Our judgments follow the depravity of our morals and remain sick,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his essay On Cato the Younger (Essay XXXVII, Book I, Screech translation, Penguin Classics, 2003). That’s quite a condemnation.* Montaigne opens that essay by quietly commenting, “I do not suffer from that common failing of judging another man by me.” Would that we all had his strength, not to judge others by what we think of ourselves. But he was born long before the age of selfies. In our … click below for more ↓

Examined Lives

2014-09-26 2021-05-15 Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Thought and deed. Thought and life. How does a person’s life, their upbringing, their daily toil affect their deepest thoughts, their beliefs, faith and passions? And as outsiders looking in, can we understand a person’s thinking by examining their lives? Can we understand their philosophy that way? I don’t know. Biographies describe the events of a person’s life, but cannot look into their innermost thoughts. Modern biographies told in conjunction with living people as collaborators may pull the curtains up, letting us see what they … click below for more ↓

The Trolley Problem

2014-09-23 2015-06-11 Critical Thinking / Philosophy / What I'm Reading Now9 Comments

I had read about the “trolley problem” in the past, but not given it much thought until recently when I saw Thomas Cathcart’s little book of that name in the philosophy section of an Indigo bookstore. It’s subtitled, “Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the bridge? A Philosophical Conundrum.” I, of course, was so intrigued I had to buy it. I have read others of Cathcart’s books and liked his work in introducing/popularizing philosophical concepts. The original trolley problem is a thought experiment that … click below for more ↓

The Unexamined Life

2014-09-20 2014-09-20 Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Personal Reminiscences / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

“The unexamined life,” Socrates declared in his trial, “is not worth living.” His student, Plato, wrote down those words in his account of Socrates’ trial and death, in the book, Apology.* Socrates was speaking for himself and about the value of his life as a thinking person. He was on trial in 399 BCE for impiety – questioning the gods and introducing new gods – and corrupting youth. His real “crime” was his threat to established thought: he made his followers think, to question everything, to examine their … click below for more ↓

The Emperor’s Handbook

2014-09-15 2014-09-15 Books & Reviews / Personal Reminiscences / Philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was considered the last of the “Five Good Emperors” of the Roman Empire. He lived 121-180 CE and died while on campaign in Germany. Like many Roman thinkers of his day, he followed the popular Stoic philosophy and his writing became an important document in the late Stoic phase of classical antiquity. While he ruled, Marcus Aurelius kept notes – written in Greek – about his thoughts and beliefs, as a guide for his own life and behaviour, applying his Stoic … click below for more ↓

Coffee with Cicero

2014-09-05 2014-09-07 Philosophy / Politics / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

Can you imagine what it would be like today to be able to meet the Roman philosopher, Cicero, for coffee and spend an hour chatting? Or meeting up at a local pub and settling down to a beer or glass of wine? How great would that be to spend an hour with one of the world’s great thinkers? What would you talk about? What wouldn’t you? Just imagine having the opportunity to share your thoughts on politics, religion, justice, philosophy, morals, friendship… the scope of … click below for more ↓

Common Sense

2014-09-02 2021-05-15 Books & Reviews / Philosophy / Politics / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

When men yield up the exclusive privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon. Thomas Paine, 18th century political activist and political philosopher, wrote that line. It struck me as particularly cogent in light of modern politics and the rise of fanatic, fundamentalist organizations: people who give themselves over to ideologies or to any monolithic cause lose their liberty because they stop thinking for themselves. They allow others to do the thinking for them, rather than question matters for themselves. This is true, … click below for more ↓

Thirty years later…

2014-09-01 2021-05-15 Personal Reminiscences / PhilosophyLeave a comment

In his book of aphorisms, Human, All Too Human, Friedrich Nietzsche described “marriage as a long conversation” like this: When entering a marriage, one should ask the question: do you think you will be able to have good conversations with this woman right into old age? Everything else in marriage transitory, but most of the time in interaction is spent in conversation. In just under two weeks, I will celebrate my 30th wedding anniversary with Susan (and almost 33 years together). I can say with … click below for more ↓

Machiavelli and Xenophon

2014-08-29 2021-05-15 Blog & Blogging / Books & Reviews / Philosophy / PoliticsLeave a comment

Another piece posted on The Municipal Machiavelli this week; this time a short comment about Machiavelli and Xenophon, the ancient Greek writer who Niccolo referred to in The Prince and The Discourses: ianchadwick.com/machiavelli/machiavelli-and-xenophon/ This recent post was sparked by a review of a new book on Xenophon aimed at the business-management reader: Larry Hedrick’s Xenophon’s Cyrus the Great: The Arts of Leadership and War. The review by Richard Feloni, on Business Insider, noted: Niccollò Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” a guide for the ideal ruler, made his … click below for more ↓