-
On Being Someone Who Has Something To Say
Being ‘someone who has something to say’ is a pre-requisite for any serious discussion. Without it, there’s a danger that anything said might be ‘mere words’. When Plato explains this requirement, he describes it as a harmony between logos and bios: your words align with your actions; your understanding is shown in your way of life. You say what you are and you are what you say. When there’s a disharmony in these things, it undermines what you say and, more importantly, who you are to say it.
-
Too Good to be Happy: A Paradox for the Good
Justice is a part of our idea of goodness, unequivocally. But having a sense of justice makes you sensitive to injustice. With this sensitivity, any injustice is liable to make such a person miserable. And there doesn’t seem to be anything good about being miserable. That seems to me to be a paradox of goodness, whereby something unequivocally bad comes from something unequivocally good. Justice is good, and happiness is good, but having a sense of justice makes us less happy. Having one good seems to deprive us of another. I wonder what the solution to this puzzle might be.
-
What is Good Philosophy?
At any given time, philosophy is what philosophers do. Look at what philosophers do; look at the picture of success for philosophical activity as it is in this time. You might be disappointed by what you find.
-
What is a Pseudo-Intellectual?
What is a pseudo-intellectual? This is a bad question, full of shit, but, like shit, mostly better out than in.
-
Believed by the Wise: Socrates, Pragmatic Arguments, and Pascal’s Wager
I’ve been wrestling with an aphorism that I can’t pin down. I want to say this: ‘The wise believe what is good and true, the clever only what is proven.’ But I can’t. The tone may be right, but the content is wrong: or rather, not wrong but factually inaccurate.
-
The Form and Purpose of Philosophical Irony
The essence of philosophical irony is to say one thing while showing something else, for the purpose that is the purpose of all philosophy: the pursuit of wisdom. For example, were I to say something like: ‘Having children is bad because they cost a lot of money.’ On the face of it, what is said here is literally true: children do cost a lot of money. But what is shown here goes against what is said, because someone with an ear for tone might recognise the point being made: some reasons are too shallow to deserve serious consideration.
-
Attend to What Matters: Introduction
‘If I attend properly I will have no choices and this is the ultimate condition to be aimed at.’ (Iris Murdoch) I believe this to be true; and if it is true, then it is very important. Possibly few ideas in philosophy are more important, since in this idea you will find the ultimate aim and purpose of philosophy, and in that something that points to the finest way that a human being can live.
-
One Year On, Part Two: Philosophy Applied to Public Debates
I’ve lost a measure of faith in the idea that philosophy can be ‘applied’ to the various debates of our times. In most cases, most people wouldn’t understand the arguments because they lack the requisite ‘preparation’; and so if you have a cause to fight for then that would be better served by appeal to other means of persuasion, such as one celebrity endorsement.
-
On Election Day
The proper purpose of democracy is not to find the right answer (for that we should appoint experts) but to allow each individual to participate in their own government. It is a way of preserving freedom or self-rule (autonomy) as a community. The will of the people will often choose badly, just as people will often make bad choices in how they govern their own lives. But since this was a free choice, and our purpose was to preserve freedom, this is not a failure. Democracy does not fail when it chooses badly: it fails when people do not choose.
-
The Rion: An Ancient Dialogue for Our Times
The Exile: Very nice to meet you, Rion. Am I talking to you at home? Rion: No, I’m in a hotel just outside of Bullton right now; I’ve been here to give a talk at a conference on mental health. Ex: And did they have many philosophers talking at the conference? Ri: Oh for sure, […]
An experiment with philosophy as a way of life
tobybetenson.com 