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Nature, Society, and Government
Society is necessary for human beings to overcome the difficulties of nature. Society ameliorates some of these difficulties but adds an entirely new set of difficulties. Government is necessary to overcome the difficulties of society. Government ameliorates some these difficulties but adds an entirely new set of difficulties. We are always adding to our difficulties with difficulties of our own making. This explains why it’s true to say that people run to society to escape the evils of nature, but run to nature to escape the evils of society. ‘We are everywhere in chains!’, says the pessimist.
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Can Virtue Be Taught?
Why do the Cynics shout over the choir? Why do they so visibly show themselves walking the walk of the philosopher’s life? It is to teach us a lesson. What lesson? That virtue is all that really matters and everything else is a matter of indifference. In this they presume an important idea: that virtue […]
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The Proper Time to Eat
‘What is the proper time to eat?’, someone asks Diogenes the Cynic. ‘When rich, whenever you want; when poor, whenever you can.’ A pithy phrase, apparently saying little. It is a seed. Perhaps you might remember it and reflect on it from time to time. At first glance it conveys a certain sense of living […]
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Craft Your Nature
As natural as it should be to live in accordance with nature, we don’t take to it naturally. It takes practice and training and an amount of philosophical education to understand what nature requires and to align your will with those requirements. Our untrained nature often leads us astray. We’re naturally inclined to follow our […]
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Align Your Will with Nature
Diogenes the Cynic sees a mouse, happily running about, not looking for money or prestige, and finds a lesson in the mouse’s behaviour: Diogenes says the gods have given us an easy life but we’ve made it difficult for ourselves by overlaying it with nonsense. Even in Diogenes’ time, to talk of ‘the gods providing’ […]
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Philosophy is a Magic Spell
Philosophy is like a kind of magic spell: you only need to say the right words in the right order and with the right intent you can change your world. Philosophy can turn poverty into wealth and sickness into health; it can free you from constraints, from the power of tyrants, from the fear of […]
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The Courage of Cynicism
I love the Cynics and I wish I were courageous enough to be one. I think they are essentially right in everything they say. A student once expressed surprise at this, when I said as much in a lecture, pointing out that I had celebrated Socrates’ prioritisation of the ethical. Weren’t the two incompatible? Socrates […]
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The Purpose of the Problem of Evil
I think there’s something odd about discussing the weightiest matters for trivial ends. If I’m being honest, I think philosophers have lost sight of their true purpose, their ‘that for the sake of which’ they philosophise, especially about the problem of evil. Once upon a time, the purpose of philosophizing about the problem was to […]
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Shouting from the Sidelines
I’ve often thought there’s something absurd about a philosopher shouting from the sidelines of society, accusing everyone of being miserable. Most people seem quite content to go about their business; they don’t seem particularly tormented by being in ordinary society; it’s only the philosopher that is. Who is more miserable here? The one who is […]
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Look Beyond the Body: The Phaedo
‘It’s easy to get caught up in material reality and forget what really matters. Caring for a newborn infant is a particularly clear example of this. Your life is made up of activities necessary for the care and maintenance of a body: feeding and cleaning and sleeping, inputs and outputs; these are all material measures. […]
An experiment with philosophy as a way of life
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