Rationally Speaking (Free subscription) | yesterday
A couple of months ago I attended a lecture by Saul Kripke at CUNY’s Graduate Center. Kripke is one of the most influential philosophers of the late 20th century, someone who you simply have to go see give a talk if you have the chance, on the sole basis of his legendary status. As in many such cases, it is not unlikely that one is going to be disappointed, given the extremely high expectations....
IPKat—IP news and fun for everyone (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
A Defense Of Intellectual Property Rights , by Richard A. Spinello and Maria Bottis, is that rare creature these days -- a book on intellectual property rights that is not predicated by the considerations of economics and the demands of the marketplace. A little unfashionably, the authors argue the case that intellectual property rights are justified on non-economic grounds. Then they get a tiny little...
The Brooks Blog (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
I have received the following announcement: This email is to invite you to participate in the Conference on Eastern and Western Philosophical Themes, to be held at the City University of New York on December 4 and 5 (that is, Friday and Saturday). The main purpose of the conference is to emphasize certain common themes in Eastern and Western Philosophy, themes which the West was aware of at one time,...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
There is talk of closing down the prison philosophy class. Can the power of the press save it? Tony can't get over the parrot. "Are you sure," he says, "about punishing this parrot?" Casey turns to him and says: "If you can hold an intelligent conversation with it, then sure, it's a person like anybody else." "It's not human," I say, "but it's a person."...
Mentors Town (Free subscription) | 11/22/2009
Original Philosophy School of Thought REALISM Thinkers: Aristotle Harris Broudy John Locke John Comenius Johann Henrich Pestalozzi Jean Jacques Rosseu Assumptions Reality is what we observe. Experience exists only in the physical world. Mind is like a mirror receiving images only from the physical world. Nature is a primary self-evident reality, a starting point in philosophizing. Investigating and...
Dissecting Leftism (Free subscription) | 10/17/2009
Progressivism: How Many Steps Forward This Time? When English philosopher John Locke, who greatly influenced America’s Founding Fathers, claimed that mixing our labor with what was formerly common property gave us the right to now call that property our own, he both reaffirmed the Protestant work ethic and provided a philosophical defense of private property rights. Writing of the rights affirmed...
The Telegraph India (Free subscription) | 10/06/2009
If you were asked to name the leading lights of Western philosophy down the ages, the following will, without doubt, feature prominently: Friedrich Nietzsche, George Santayana, Jean-Paul Sartre, Benedict de Spinoza, Arthur Schopenhauer, Henry David Thoreau, Voltaire, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Immanuel Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, John Locke and David Hume. Any listing of great historians, novelists and...
My left wing (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
I was asked recently to define my politics by a student. I don't normally divulge my politics, but in this case, it was a "philosophy of human rights" course, and the topic of the DRC had come up. "My politics are simple," I said. "They begin with the body." I don't think my politics are unprecedented. In fact, I would argue that when Thomas Jefferson changed John Locke's...
doomed (Free subscription) | 09/21/2009
'Tabula rasa' theory. Tabula rasa means 'blank slate', which stand for an idea that every idea of an object or even that we have is built up on experience that we had with that object or event. This idea is supported by philosophers John Locke (1632-1704) and David Hume (1711-76). Hume's reasons for saying 'every idea ... is copied from a similar impression'. Hume was developing Locke's idea that everything...
jonrowe.blogspot.com (Free subscription) | 09/20/2009
Irving Kristol: Other than criticizing the excesses of Great Society lefty liberalism, I didn't appreciate much the neoconservative politics of the late Irving Kristol. The Strauss influenced neocons have been pretty disappointing as policy wonks. However I am a big fan of their work on the political philosophy of the American Founding. The dialog between the East Coast and West Coast Straussians is...
Tom Nelson (Free subscription) | 09/19/2009
Peter Soley on "the new proposed carbon trading scam" - Local News Just this week an agricultural firm sent out an email to the media outlets in Grenfell (me that is) publicizing the fact that to aid in the fight against global warming and to help agri businesses cope with the new proposed carbon trading scam – the firm is going to run tests to find sheep that give out less methane...
History Is Elementary (Free subscription) | 09/17/2009
On this day in 1787 the United States Constitution was signed, however it was not until 2004 that an official observance was recognized by Congress. Prior to 2004 the day was celebrated as Citizenship Day. The law which officially recognizes today as Constitution Day provides that any U.S. public school receiving federal funds must set aside a portion of classroom instruction specifically for teaching...
Daylight Atheism (Free subscription) | 09/12/2009
One could argue that atheism leads to immorality. With no God-given commandments, the atheist pretty much has to make up moral standards as he or she goes along... The philosopher John Locke – one of the intellectual forebears of American democracy – once said that atheists can't ultimately be trusted in their promises and commitments, [...]
Adam Smith's Lost Legacy (Free subscription) | 09/05/2009
In a debate, so far conducted as an exchange of comments, I ahve made a longer comment than the system allows, so I have brought it a a post below: 'This was not how capitalism was meant to be, originally devised by Adam Smith as a philosophy to go alongside thrift .' My problem with this sentence is the part: “how capitalism was meant to be”. Societies are not ‘meant to be’...
Free In Idaho! (Free subscription) | 09/01/2009
After yesterday’s article by Mark Epstein, I feel the need to link to Kevin Baker today The Constitution is the fundamental legal document of our nation. It is the philosophy of John Locke laid down as the basic law of the land: Life, liberty, property. Protect all three against attacks from both private individuals and governments [...]
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