Browsing All posts tagged under »Politics«

Truth and meaning in the age of Trump

July 18, 2018 by

3

I learned philosophy of language in the dogmatic antiquity of a couple of years ago. Many of my colleagues and senior philosophers seem still to cling to these dogmas, like “a sentence is made true by its disquotation.” In the now-times, though, it seems especially important to show where we went wrong in developing our […]

Turning Bad Rubbish into Good Lessons

May 30, 2018 by

2

Alternately titled: What we talk about when we talk about Jordan Peterson. I should begin by saying that all thoughts here are mine. They are not endorsed or shared by the University of Calgary, the Department of Philosophy, or any other group with which I’m affiliated, unless those folks choose to endorse or share them. […]

Powerful Medicine; a dimension of the Nassar case

January 27, 2018 by

2

I want to start this post with a really clear content notice; if you’re uncomfortable with or likely to be triggered by descriptions of sexual assault, you may want to gird yourself or take a pass on this post entirely. I experienced nausea myself in reading the accounts, but I don’t think it is really […]

Failures in teaching, discipline

November 21, 2017 by

2

A few notes before I get into the nitty gritty of this issue: I’m a graduate student at the University of Calgary, a member of the university’s Graduate Student Association (our union), and the president of the philosophy department’s affiliated Graduate Student Association chapter. Nothing I say in this post is made in those roles; […]

The “But you can’t do that!” gambit, rejected

August 14, 2017 by

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It is common enough to run across arguments talking about how certain sorts of philosophical positions have corrupted the modern academy, destroying an intellectual commitment to truth in favor of some other set of values. These claims have come up regularly in disputes over "the atheistic worldview," post-modernism, and moral relativism.

Political Possibilities.

August 22, 2016 by

12

With the political turmoil in the US and UK this year, there has been a lot of discussion of the relative merits of democratic forms of government and alternatives (e.g. here and here). Many of the proposed changes seem to me to be unworkable, but others, like a move away from first past the post […]

When is Pragmatism Irresponsible?

August 10, 2016 by

3

When is Pragmatism Irresponsible? Perhaps it has to do with a fractured GOP ostensibly headed by a racist demagogue, or a Democratic party at war with half its base while chanting “unity,” but Olivia Goldhill’s month-old article about the immorality of voting one’s conscience is currently remaking the rounds on social media these days. It […]

Republican Senators Just Voted To Sell Off Your National Forests

April 10, 2015 by

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This is a TRAVESTY!

Grinworthy Quotes (4)

December 9, 2014 by

1

I apologize for taking so long to post another one of these. Here is Nicholas of Cusa (a.k.a. Cusano, a.k.a. Nikolaus von Kues) (1401–1464) on the primacy of intelligent people from De Concordantia Catholica. (This was quoted in Paul Sigmund’s Nicholas of Cusa and Medieval Political Thought, Harvard University Press, 1963, p. 132).   Almighty […]

We Built This City

September 7, 2012 by

20

A few weeks ago on The Public Discourse, Professor Anthony Esolen offered a fresh and creative criticism of Barack Obama’s now infamous “you didn’t build that” comment, challenging the President’s political statement with a largely metaphysical argument. However, my fear is that Professor Esolen’s argument may not appropriate a proper eye towards the political building […]

Obamacare: Are the Libertarian Oppositions to the SCOTUS decision warranted?

July 10, 2012 by

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By now, nearly everyone with access to this blog knows that SCOTUS has upheld the Obamacare bill. This has caused an uproar with Libertarian folks as well as those who might not call themselves Libertarians but who think gov’t telling them what they must buy is inappropriate. I’ll be discussing the objections levied by the […]

Ending Federal Student Aid Would Only Hurt the Poor

June 21, 2012 by

14

Antony Davies has recently given a really brief pod cast as to how the student loan crisis is similar and even worse to the housing bubble that popped a few years back (it’s worth a look, only 4 minutes long). I think he’s right that this is a major problem. He suggests (as do many […]

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