I couldn't resist

Pop-culture joke, ahoy!

http://rockpapercynic.com/index.php?date=2009-10-27

test question (suggested by an awesome student :-)

Match the name of the philosopher with what he thought the universe was
made of:

Thales
Anaximander
Anaximenes
Pythagoras
Xenophanes
Heraclitus
Empedocles
Anaxagoras
Leucippus and Democritus

Seeds
Earth
Atoms
Numbers
The Boundless
Air
Water
Fire
Earth, Air, Water and Fire

The Importance of Aristotelian Moderation

On the 78th page of the third edition of our text, author Donald Palmer presents us with a scenario in which too much or too little of something (in this case, fear) can be perilous to the individual. Here is another example of the tragedy that can result when something -- which, by itself, is classified as neither good nor bad -- is in excess:

Aristotle's Ethics

After spending some time reading and analyzing the section on Aristotle, I've come to the conclusion that Aristotle's ethics are, for the most part, virtue ethics. I find this particularly interesting because he also thought that "each substance is a self-contained teleological system." In particular, teleology has an entirely different focal point than virtue ethics, which generally seems to imply that each ethical theory would advocate different "ethical" actions. However, by making virtue the goal of human activity, the difference between the two schools of ethics becomes one of name only. Later in history, virtue ethics was broadened to focus more on determining what is virtuous rather than how virtue should affect one's actions. Despite this shift, I still find it rather interesting how Aristotle shaped virtue ethics using teleology.

Also related, the touch of ethical egoism evident in Aristotle's philosophy is somewhat amusing. Making one's materialistic well-being a condition for virtue is quite an idea considering that such conditions don't really affect any parts of his moral theory.

God and the Burrito

I have been busy this week so i havent done much thinking about philosophy but i thought you all may like this question.

Can god make a burrito so big that he him self can not eat?

Note: Most people feel the god is all powerful.

Empedocles and Spirited Away

I think something that has been ignored (or maybe not, but I've not noticed it mentioned at least) is Empedocles' idea of Love vs. Strife as seen in Spirited Away. Come to think of it, I think the subject has been ignored altogether.

So that leads me to ask- did we just get carried away with other subjects (there are a lot, so it's understandable) and the topic of Love/Strife get thrown by the wayside, or do we think it's a dumb thing to discuss? I ask this because whenever the topic of Love is brought up people seem to get the mindset that it's a fluffy, childish thing that really isn't that important.

So a following question- is it really a stupid topic? If so, why? This I ask partly because I found it interesting to see people's reactions to Spirited Away when it "suddenly turned into a fairytale"- people seemed to suddenly be confused and/or think the whole business suddenly ridiculous.

Philosophies seen in Spirited Away vs. Western philosophies

Something I've found interesting about Asian philosophy in contrast with Western philosophy is the interconnectedness of humans with the spirit world. Consider, at least, Japanese culture and its indigenous Shinto religion- here we find that the spirit world and human world interact constantly, and that spirits are very real beings that play a part in human livelihoods. In Spirited Away we saw this same thing. This contrasts sharply with much of Western philosophy, where the metaphysical/spiritual world is irrational nonsense; the majority of Western philosophy effectively says there is only a physical/touchable/study-able world while for the Japanese it is both physical and mystical and that this is not irrational at all.