September 2011
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July 2011
1 post
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Being Fully Human: Formative and Transformative...
Activities may be divided into two categories, formative and transformative.
Formative activities are any activities that by themselves leave our perception of the world unchanged. For example, watching a football game. The qualification ‘by themselves’ is inserted to remind the reader that potentially any activity given the right circumstances can become transformative. For example, going to the...
June 2011
1 post
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On Friendship →
The truest kind of friendship is that which exists between good men, as we have said more than once. For it is agreed that what is good or pleasant absolutely is lovable and desirable absolutely, and what is good or pleasant for a particular person is lovable and desirable for that person.
But friendship between good men rests on both grounds - the good are good and pleasant absolutely,...
January 2011
2 posts
4 tags
On Leadership →
In an era still dominated by a naive belief in scientific method [1] many people believe that if they just diligently follow a step-by-step guide on leadership, in addition to imitating what their current leaders do, that will somehow eventually result in them becoming leaders too. But that is the mindset of those who obey, not those who lead. If it leads anywhere, it is not some place new other...
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Childhood, suffering and the meaning of life →
To look back to the circumstances under which a question arises helps us in understanding a question better thus making it easier to answer it. Moreover, it can even point to the dissolution of the question altogether and make the answer unnecessary or generate different, perhaps more interesting questions. The question regarding the meaning (or purpose, which is not exactly the same) of...
December 2010
4 posts
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Wisdom and Hydrodynamics →
The good life is a correct balance between know-that and know-how. Knowing in an intellectual way is simply not enough for a full understanding and embodiment of wisdom. In fact, a good definition of wisdom is embodied valuable knowledge. Or, in vernacular: (valuable) knowledge in action. On the other hand, wise action is impossible with ignorance in theory.
That doesn’t mean that a man...
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“A new species of philosophers is coming up: I venture to baptize them with a...”
– Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, ‘The Free Spirit’, section 42.
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“The missing ear - ‘So long as one always lays the blame on others one still...”
– Friedrich Nietzsche, Human All Too Human, vol.2, section 386.
November 2010
3 posts
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Who is wise?
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy in its article on wisdom, after summarizing the main views there are about wisdom, concludes with a rigorous definition of what it means for someone to be wise. Someone is wise if and only if he/she:
1. Has extensive factual and theoretical knowledge.
2. Knows how to live well.
3. Is successful at living well.
4. Has very few unjustified beliefs.
As...
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“Wisdom is an understanding of what is important, where this understanding...”
– Robert Nozick, The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations, p. 267-9, Simon & Schuster, 1990.
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“He who has little communication with people is seldom a misanthrope. True...”
– Giacomo Leopardi, Thoughts, 1837, section 89, Hesperus Press Limited, 2002.
October 2010
2 posts
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To be a philosopher →
Philosophy is not boring. It talks about the most important issues in life – and it doesn’t tell you which those are. It is not an order, it is a question. You are supposed to find the answer.
Philosophers who are boring are failing in life. A boring life cannot be a good one. “So what if a philosopher is boring? He may still be a good philosopher.” Yes – only if you subtract one of the...
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Wisdom is more important than knowledge →
With the tremendous advancements in science human beings have reached the technological capacity to exterminate themselves and their world. In fact, at least one time we came pretty close to a nuclear war. Over the past decades, with the rise of the environmental movement, we’ve become ever more aware of the impact we have not only on the health and well-being of our own communities but on the...