Politics, Philosophy, Religion

Liberty “Or” Equality, or Liberty “And” Equality?

August 22, 2011 – 9:41 am
8/3/2011 The Evening meeting of the Philosophy Group is scheduled for Wednesday August 24, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the Aliso Viejo library. The Topic is: Liberty “Or” Equality, or Liberty “And” Equality? What is the role, if any, of our Constitutional Government to assure their co-existence? Let me first define the concepts by paraphrasing Victoria Martin words in her article on “The principles of Liberty & Equality”: 1. Liberty and its synonyms Freedom and Independence, stands for the ability of people to make choices about most aspects of their life. Libertarians assert the value of Liberty over Equality and believe in limiting the influence of the government. Thomas Jefferson names “Liberty” as a natural, inalienable right in the Declaration of Independence. 2. Equality stands for the belief that human are born having equal rights and that people must have equal access to wealth and property. Egalitarians assert the value of equality over Liberty. The ...

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What are the effects on American Culture (Philosophy, Education, Literature, Politics, Art and Science) of the current Anti-Intellectualism surge?

July 19, 2011 – 10:23 am
7/18/2011 REMINDER The Evening meeting of the Philosophy Group is scheduled for Wednesday July 27, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the Aliso Viejo library. The Topic is: What are the effects on American Culture (Philosophy, Education, Literature, Politics, Art and Science) of the current Anti-Intellectualism surge? In the book “The fit of Intellectuals and Intellectualism in American society” published in April 2009, J. Grattan makes an appropriate distinction between Intelligence and Intellectualism: “Intelligence involves being smart or skilful in a somewhat narrow sense-it is problem solving. An expert is being aware of most of the technical information that pertains to a topic or situation and able to utilize it. An intellectual approach is broader, he /she endeavors to see issues in a broader context and to think of them creatively and not be overly constrained by precedents. An Intellectual may be inclined to challenge the soundness or truthfulness of conventional values, wisdom, and way of ...

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What are the effects on American Culture (Philosophy, Education, Literature, Politics, Art and Science) of the current Anti-Intellectualism surge?

June 30, 2011 – 8:07 am
6/30/2011 The Evening meeting of the Philosophy Group is scheduled for Wednesday July 27, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the Aliso Viejo library. The Topic is: What are the effects on American Culture (Philosophy, Education, Literature, Politics, Art and Science) of the current Anti-Intellectualism surge? Anti-Intellectualism is the hostility towards and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectual pursuits, usually expressed as the derision of philosophy, education, literature, politics, art and science, as impractical and contemptible (Wikipidia, the free encyclopedia). Richard Hofstadter’s “Anti-intellectualism in American Life” identified at least three distinct expressions of this attitude called Anti-Rationalism, Anti-Elitist and Unreflective Instrumentalism: 1. Anti-Rationalism: suspicion and hostility toward the value of critical thought and reasoned discourse in general. The Evangelical tradition, since the Awakening in the 17th century and increasing nowadays, direct hostility toward the humanities and the sciences when they present a godless vision of the Universe. Likewise, all authoritarian regimes, including the secular one suppress freedom of ...

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What are the Philosophical implications of Black Swan Events?

June 15, 2011 – 5:22 am
6/2/2011 The Evening meeting of the Philosophy Group is scheduled for Wednesday June 22, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the Aliso Viejo library. The Topic is: What are the Philosophical implications of the extreme impact of rare and unpredictable events leading often to their rationalization in hindsight (Black Swan Events)? Can you guess the next Black Swan event? When the Latin Poet Juvenal used the following two sentences: “a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan” and “a good person is as rare as a black swan”, a black swan was not part of his reality and as far as he was concern did not exist and the terms were used to denote a statement of improbability. However, in 1697, a Dutch explorer Willem De Vlamingh discovered a black swan in Western Australia. Aristotle “Prior analytics” uses the White Swan as examples of necessary relations and the Black ...

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What is the nature of philosophical praxis?

May 6, 2011 – 2:44 pm
5/5/2011 Greeting to all Philosophers and happy Cinquo di Mayo and Mother’s Day The Evening meeting of the Philosophy Group is scheduled for Wednesday May 25, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the Aliso Viejo library. The Topic is: What is the nature of philosophical praxis? What are some of your practical applications/actions based on your philosophical stands? A formal definition of Praxis found in the Wiktionary: 1. The practical application of any branch of learning 2. Practice, as distinguish from theory (Webster) 3. The Synthesis of theory and practice in Philosophy, without presuming the primacy of either 4. Custom or established practice Philosophical Praxis is the process by which a theory is enacted or practiced and also refers to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing or practicing philosophical ideas (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Many philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, St Augustine, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt ...

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What is the nature of Exceptionalism?

April 2, 2011 – 11:33 am
4/3/2011 Greeting to all Philosophers The Evening meeting of the Philosophy Group is scheduled for Wednesday April, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the Aliso Viejo library. The Topic is: What is the nature of Exceptionalism? Is American Exceptionalism a reality or a myth? Exceptionalism is a concept defined (yourdictionary.com) as: 1. The condition of being exceptional or unique 2. The theory or belief that something does not conform to a pattern or norm. 3. A unique nature ascribed to a nation or culture regarded as giving it a special role in history, world affairs and others. Human Exceptionalism refers to a belief that human being have special status in nature based on their unique capacities. This belief is the grounding for some naturalistic concepts of human rights. The religious base for human Exceptionalism is found in the book of Genesis: “And God said: let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, ...

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What is Freedom?

March 5, 2011 – 11:17 am
3/3/2011 Greeting to all Philosophers The Evening meeting of the Philosophy Group is scheduled for Wednesday March 23rd, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at the Aliso Viejo library. The Topic is”: What is Freedom? Why do we need Freedom? The current events in the Middle East are based on the need for oppressed people to have freedom; civil, political and economical. The signs bandied about during the protests call for freedom and the resignation of the oppressive and dictatorial regimes. So what is Freedom anyway? And why do we need Freedom is an appropriate topic to discuss at our March meeting. Freedom, and its synonyms Liberty and independence, refer to an absence of undue restrictions and an opportunity to exercise one’s rights and powers. Freedom emphasizes the opportunity given for the exercise of one’s rights, powers, desires or the like (Webster’s New Universal Dictionary). In essence, ...

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What is the nature of Happiness?

February 4, 2011 – 8:31 am
2/3/2011 Greetings to all Philosophers The Evening Philosophy Group will meet Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. The topic is: What is the nature of Happiness? Can you choose to be Happy or not? When asked in many surveys about the most important thing in life, most respondents answer is Happiness (over 50% followed at a smaller rate by love, success, good health and religion). But when asked to define Happiness, most people cannot do it specifically except by the things that make them happy such as money and love. This is not an adequate answer and the definitions of Happiness are all over the map. How do you define Happiness? Try, if you like, to complete the sentence: Happiness to me is------------- and bring your answer to the meeting, so you could share it with the group. Here are sample of definitions obtained though ...

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What is the Nature of Humor?

December 16, 2010 – 8:08 am
The January 26th meeting of the philosophy group has been scheduled for 7:00 p.m at the Aliso Viejo library. The topic for the January meeting has been chosen by the November participant as: What is the Nature of Humor? Humor is defined in the Webster Universal Unabridged Dictionary as: 1. a comic, absurd or incongruous quality causing amusement-The humor of a situation 2. The faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical- He is completely without humor. 3. An instance of being or attempting to be comical or amusing-The humor in his joke eluded his audience 4. 4. The faculty of expressing the amusing or comical- The author’s humor came across better in the book than in the movie. 5. Comical writing or talk in general, comical books, skits or plays. 6. Peculiar features, oddities, quirks-Humors of life. 7. A temporary mood or frame of mind- The boss is in a bad humor today. 8. A capricious or freakish ...

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What is Consciousness?

November 10, 2010 – 12:54 pm
Greetings to all Philosophers The Evening Philosophy group will meet in November at the Aliso Viejo Library. Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 7:00 P.M Topic: What is Consciousness? Consciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and environment. The Merriam Webster on-line dictionary gives a formal definition of Consciousness: The quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself. The state or fact of being Conscious of an external object, state or fact. The state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought: Mind. The totally of Conscious states of an individual. The upper level of mental life of which the person is aware as contrasted with unconscious processes From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “The concept of Consciousness is ambiguous; the most contemporary notion of a conscious mental state is captured by Thomas Nagel’s famous “what is it like” sense. The problem of Consciousness is the central issue ...

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