When I started my Nietzsche project, my daughter warned me that one should only take Nietzsche in small doses. Much to my chagrin, I ignored her advice and soon found myself in the deep, dark woods of pessimism and despair. Little did I know that it would be Carl Jung who would lead me out. […]
Category Archives: Modern Philosophy
95. Nietzsche I, The Encroachment of Modernism
The biggest problem I see when discussing Friedrich Nietzsche is that we tend to pull his sayings out of context and use them like aphorisms, especially his more controversial or poignant statements. It’s not surprising, though, that we approach Nietzsche in this way, given that we live in an age of soundbites and we acclamate […]
94. Nietzsche and the Homeric Contest
Many of us who have read the Greek mythological tales have been struck by their vividness and ability to capture and portray the unsanitized human condition with all of its unfettered emotions and brutality. When my high school literature teacher introduced these tales to us, I remember thinking that I had never encountered such drama […]
92. Philosophy in the Age of Scientism
I see Western Civilization as two distinct ages, the of philosophy and age of empirical science. The age of philosophy, starting with the Greeks, spanned from the 6th century B.C. until the birth of Modernism in the 16th century. The age of Empiricism, spanning until the present, began in 1543 with the Copernican Revolution. The […]
76. Plato’s ‘Meno’ Part 2; A Common Uneducated Slave
Can a common, uneducated slave do complex geometry without ever learning it? This is one of the questions in Plato’s Meno. Plato was hoping that the answer to this question was yes, for that would give hope to slaves everywhere. This and other unusual aspects of the dialogue make it one of Plato’s most interesting […]
74. Faith and Reason -The Regensburg Address of Pope Benedict XVI, Part 3
This is the third and final part of a series on Pope Benedict’s Regensburg Address on “Faith and Reason”. If you wish, you can start at post 72 if you have not read it yet, and then proceed post 73, but that is not necessary. You can also read this as a standalone. Benedict gave […]
73. The Regensburg Address of Pope Benedict XVI, Part 2
In the above photo, Pope Benedict prepares to give his Regensburg Address, which resulted in a firestorm of controversy throughout the world. Please read post 72 to get the essential background of this address. In that post, I discussed Pope Benedict’s idea that it was the relationship between Greek philosophy and Christian revelation that built […]
51. Heraclitus – Fire as the Universal Principle
This article is a repost of Post 32. This repost was prompted by some very interesting comments and challenges left by an perceptive reader named Al. Below is one of his comments: “Your statement, “Heraclitus did not believe in universal flux” is not accurate at all. You take away Heraclitus’s major contribution to philosophy. Precisely, […]
49. God Becomes Man at the Center Point of History
In my second annual Christmas post, I would like to highlight for you one of my most favorite paintings of all time. It is entitled The Annunciation, by Fra Angelico. The Annunciation – when the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have the Christ child – was a common art theme in […]