Category Archives: Philosophy
Mark Lilla on political thought today
From Mark Lilla’s The Reckless Mind (2nd edition): “Never since the end of World War II, and perhaps since the Russian Revolution, has political thinking in the West seemed so shallow, so clueless. We all sense that ominous changes are taking … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Politics
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Schemas and coinages
One advantage of being a schematic thinker is the technique exposes gaps in our vocabularies, conceptual spaces deprived of language that create intellectual blindspots (schemoscotomas?) for those whose thought is primarily verbal. In encountering these wordless conceptual spaces my approach … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
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Whys
Is it a coincidence that “why” in the plural sounds like “wise”? Yes. Actually it is a coincidence. So I will force the connection myself. Wisdom is closely related to the capacity to reason from the logic of multiple moral purposes, the … Continue reading
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Thou shalt transcend
The moral imperative that I feel most intensely is to acknowledge, respond to and relate to realities who are not myself, and to value most of all those real others who want to return my acknowledgment, to respond back and … Continue reading
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Re-snark
A forgotten snark from 2013: “If only it were as easy to agree on the truth as it is to know it.” I’m going to have to work this into my Ten Thousand Everythings pamphlet.
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Meditation on V’ahavta
While I traveled the last two weeks I finished memorizing the V’ahavta. V’ahavta et Adonai Elohecha, b’chol l’vavcha uv’chol nafsh’cha uv’chol m’odecha. You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism, Philosophy
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