should we allow situational moral issues to to dictate philosophical interpretation. — Pantagruel

There's a kind of magnificence in your extravagant, blithe dismissal of Heidegger's support for attempted genocide and a Germanic master race. If you read or listen to Wolin's book, by the way, you'll find that these positions have their basis in his philosophical musings (primarily in the Black Notebooks and his letters to his brother). As for his philosophy, such as it is, it seems to me that Dewey's alleged observation that Heidegger "reads like a Swabian peasant trying to sound like me" describes whatever is of worth in it, by my understanding, if we subtract H's mysticism and Romanticism.

It seems myopic to criticize someone for being on the wrong side of a socio-historic movement — Pantagruel

Yes, we are all too quick to criticize those who supported Hitler and the Nazi regime and referred to the Holocaust as the "self-annihilation of the Jews." The "wrong side of a socio-historic movement," forsooth.

A form of elevated Volksgesinnung? — Tom Storm

Elevated, schmelevated. It's difficult for me to think of his silly rhapsodies regarding the German Volk without picturing him as one of the performers of Springtime for Hitler.

I finished Wolin's book, and even I, unrivaled as I think I am in my loathing for Heidegger, was astonished by the scope of his odiousness.

There is no meaning of life. — niki wonoto

Well, if that's so, there's nothing to be concerned about. Tu ne quaesieris as Horace says:

no one’s allowed to know his fate,
Not you, not me: don’t ask, don’t hunt for answers
In tea leaves or palms. Be patient with whatever comes.
This could be our last winter, it could be many
More, pounding the Tuscan Sea on these rocks:
Do what you must, be wise, cut your vines
And forget about hope. Time goes running, even
As we talk. Take the present, the future’s no one’s affair.

Materialists do not see reality like this...

The earth, in a very real sense, is our mother. We are born from this mother, from Gaia; we are extensions of the earth and the cosmos of which it is a part. This means that our conceptualizing and our spirituality also extend from the spiritual dimension of the cosmos and the earth.
— Thomas Berry — Athena

Doesn't seem to follow though, does it? That "spiritual dimension" sneaks into the picture. Is that "spiritual dimension" a part of Nature? If so, a Naturalist may accept it as a part of reality, like everything else, including energy. The question would then seem to be whether if it's part of the Universe it is corporeal.

"Everything" which causes changes is material, ergo "energy" is material, no? — 180 Proof

Sounds rather Stoic and, therefore, preferable as such things go, to me at least. All that acts or can be acted upon are "bodies" and therefore part of Nature, or the Universe. There are different kinds of bodies, though.

The significance of the Stoic view is that it posits immanence; there ain't no supernatural or transcendent (I admit the Stoics may not have used the word "ain't"). We don't need no stinkin' supernatural or transcendent, in fact (they may not have used the word "stinkin'" either). Being part of Nature (the Universe), inextricably, all we can know is part of it.

The concept of energy and even what we know of the quantum world fits in rather well with Stoicism, I think, though not with its view that the pneuma (of which they would be a part, I think) is the intelligent, rational as well as generative guiding principle of the Universe.

Well, consider you may be less than clear. Your wrote:

I thought of another thing I could have put in the essay. I have heard that from the psychological perspective, the conversion from polytheism to monotheism meant that people imagined themselves to be one (at least in ideal) whereas they had not thought like that before. — Brendan Golledge

The second sentence seems to include a statement that "the conversion from polytheism to monotheism meant that people imagined themselves to be one (at least in ideal) whereas they had not thought like that before."

I'm not sure how "from a psychological perspective" impacts the meaning of those words, nor am I sure what it is people thought when they did not "imagine themselves to be one." Did they imagine themselves to be many, or at least more than one, when polytheistic? Did they imagine themselves to be one, but in a lesser or different sense than they would once converted to monotheism?

I've always suspected that people long to learn what I think about most anything, but am shy.

I thought of another thing I could have put in the essay. I have heard that from the psychological perspective, the conversion from polytheism to monotheism meant that people imagined themselves to be one (at least in ideal) whereas they had not thought like that before. — Brendan Golledge

People imagined the human race to be "one" long before Jesus was a twinkle in his immaculately conceiving mother's eye. It was the position of more than one ancient school of philosophy (think of the Stoics). The concept of the logos, which you referred to previously in a post, was borrowed by Christians from the ancient pagan philosophers. The early Christians were very adept at borrowing. They borrowed even many of the gods of the ancients, in fact, and called them saints.

But If we believe in just one God that is to be properly worshipped, then our best and highest selves (what a Christian probably identifies as his conscience) is just one, and everything not in alignment with that needs to be reformed or cut off. — Brendan Golledge

Or burnt, or stoned, or hung or otherwise executed, or tortured, etc. The belief in one God fostered intolerance and exclusivity, neither of which were characteristic of polytheism.

I did not like the quote from Wittgenstein because it was another comment that made me think that the poster had not read anything in my essay. — Brendan Golledge

That's quite true. For what it's worth, let me explain why. You shouldn't take it personally.

People have been telling other people about God for a very long time. People have also believed they have special insight into God and religion (which includes our experience of God) and have wanted to communicate this to other people. for a very long time. This is unremarkable.

In my case, the people who told me about God and their special insight into and knowledge/experience of God were, for the most part, priests, brothers, nuns and lay functionaries of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. My days as a son of Holy Mother Church ended some time ago. But the tendency to testify about one's views and experience of God isn't limited to Catholics, though I wonder if the need to proselytize is a peculiarity of those who adopt one of the Abrahamic religions or were once among their believers.

I'm not sure what it is that moves a person to share observations and speculations regarding God, but I doubt that doing so has ever succeeded in accomplishing anything except, in some cases, convincing someone to accept a belief in a particular kind God or fostering disagreement over whether God exists or if God does exist, what God is in that case. This may reveal something about ourselves, but can hardly be said to tell us anything about God.

Such things may strike some people as important. But, for me, they achieve nothing because, as Wittgenstein also said, God is something regarding which we should (or must) remain silent.

I think there is wisdom in this statement by Wittgenstein: "Make sure that your religion is between you and God only."

For one thing, we wouldn't need to be concerned about the length of essays on the subject, if we follow that advice.

Oh yes. Emergency Powers were granted to the President by Congress some time ago, and Presidents delight it making use of them. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I think those powers should be restricted more than they are.

Is dictatorship even possible in America under your political system? — Hailey

The power of the Executive has been steadily increased, and a president may, upon declaring a national emergency (which the president may do unilaterally) exercise extraordinary powers, dictatorial in scope, such as deploying troops or limiting telecommunications. Trump has been claiming, in effect, a "national emergency" for quite some time, and we may be reasonably certain he will do so given the opportunity, if it serves his purpose.

Surely a pledge to abide by the rules of the contest ought to be a basic minimum entry requirement. Plain common sense, I would have thought. — Wayfarer

Yes. But we're dealing with a person who won't honor a pledge in any case, and won't be expected to by those who support him.

Given the times and the stakes, it strikes me this is a legitimate concern. Perhaps these individuals, and maybe other state AGs and Secretaries of State, are or will be inviting litigation or pursuing it (e.g. seeking a declaratory judgment) to settle the issue as much as possible prior to the election.

A case can be made that American elections have always been, as H.L. Mencken said, "a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." But our politics have become particularly depraved lately.

Does the blessing include those who make junket? — Banno

They're especially blessed.

I partially disagree: most people have false beliefs about their own tastes, so moral discourse is helpful for really honing in on what one truly wants. — Bob Ross

I take it you don't mean what one should want. If that's the case, though, I'm not sure how helpful "moral discourse" would be.

Does someone need to file suit in order for Trump to be found ineligible to stand? I mean, it wouldn’t automatically follow from a conviction without a separate suit being filed would it? (When McConnell declined to convict Trump on his second impeachment, he pointedly said that civil laws have other remedies for Trump’s acts. He might have been referring to that.) — Quixodian

I'm not sure what the procedure would be. As far as I know, there's been no proceeding under it. This mountebank and the myrmidons that assist him have been relatively rare since the Amendment was adopted. Suckers, of course, are born every minute as P.T. Barnum or someone else said.

I suspect McConnell was merely trying to justify his cowardice in failing to support impeachment when he made the remarks you refer to.

I recently mentioned the verses to two different believers in Jesus. Both denied that Jesus ever said that a child who curses a parent should be put to death. After being shown the verses, both denied that Jesus meant that a child who curses a parent should be put to death. — Art48

That sort of thing has been going on for quite some time. I always think of that portion of Monty Python's Life of Brian, where those at the edge of the crowd listening to the Sermon on the Mount can't quite make out what Jesus is saying. Someone thinks he says "Blessed are the cheesemakers" and is corrected by another listener, who says "Well, you can't take him literally, you know. What he really means is 'Blessed are all makers of dairy products'" (or words to that effect). I mentioned this is a prior post and think some moderator deleted it, for reasons I don't know. Perhaps the moderator thought Jesus should be taken literally, or that cheesemakers are truly blessed.

I saw something similar at Reason magazine, online. I'm not overfond of The Federalist Society, with which Clarence ("The Moocher") Thomas and Samuel ("The Crank") Alito and others I think less than admirable are associated. It's avowed commitment to "individual liberty" seems to me to be limited and often in conflict with its avowed commitment to "traditional values."

Regardless, I think this provision of the Fourteenth Amendment applies. But I can't claim to have read the law review article and likely won't (I loathe law review articles). I think Michael Popek is overly optimistic, though. The leaders of the Republican Party are the most part craven, the followers of this Rupert Pupkin-like figure are too zealous in their ignorance to pay attention to such things, and conservative media is largely made up of his shills. The only hope is with the courts, though it's possible the majority of the voters recognize him for what he is.

thusly submit to the reader that if moral realism is true, then it is useless for deriving morals, since the best (and most rational) course of action is to figure out what one is fundamentally obligated to (which is a taste) and derive what the consequences are of holding that hypothetical imperative. — Bob Ross

Thank you, but I'll do what I think appropriate, regardless. Why, indeed, shouldn't I? De gustibus non est disputandum.

But I always took Wittgenstein to be saying that philosophers (and scientists doing philosophy) shouldn't be getting into "what really exists," and what doesn't, in metaphysical terms. — Count Timothy von Icarus

I see. I'm uncertain what his view was of scientific investigation and its results, but think he felt philosophers were misguided in pursuing theories of metaphysics, and therefore reality, and his criticisms related to their method of doing so. In other words, I don't think he believed we can't know whether, e.g., socks are real or that there's something real we can't know, but rather that our use of language can "trick" us into striving to know what's "really real."

So back to plain ordinary reality, socks and hands and cups and kettles. — Banno

You mean....the socks I put on my feet are real? But the feet aren't, right?

Scientific realism seems more the default position than his anti-metaphysical stance. — Count Timothy von Icarus

In what sense does it differ from Wittgenstein's stance? Does it dispute the "plain ordinary reality" of socks and hands and cups and kettles, as Banno put it, or posit a "base reality" we can't know?

I think it's similar in intent. The Latin portion of the title is taken from my daemon, Marcus Tullius Cicero, by the way: Philosophia est ars vitae (philosophy is the art of living.

There's a book, Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living, by Elizabeth Lasch-Quinn, which you may find interesting. It addresses ancient Gnosticism, Stoicism and Epicureanism and discusses modern versions of them--efforts to renew them as an alternative to secular world views. I was impressed by her knowledge of the works of those who purport to be modern Stoics, including the loathsome Ryan Holiday (who seems to view Stoicism as a method to succeed in the world, particularly in business). I'm not that familiar with the works of Gnosticism, so can't tell how deeply she dives into that.

That's nice of you. I like yours, also.

I like the analogy. I think it reflects Dewey's view that philosophy has too often thought of the relation between ourselves and the world as one of knowing; that of one between the knower and the known--the world being made up of objects of our knowledge (the "spectator" theory of knowledge), and that in fact we're part of the world and our lives made up of our experience interrelating with the rest of it, and others.

In this way, I am suggesting that a fuller critique of the Christian worldview is important in philosophy, especially as the perspective shaped so much Western thinking, including the foundations of science, especially the ideas of Kant and Descartes. Any thoughts? — Jack Cummins

Christianity is a remarkable hodgepodge of preexisting religious, philosophical, social and cultural beliefs popular in the ancient Mediterranean world, but unusual for its intolerance and exclusivity, which came to thrive after it was absorbed into the Roman imperial state. I doubt there is anything original or unique about it; even its exclusive nature may be said to be derived from Judaism.

To the extent it's worldview made any contribution to Western thinking and science, it did so by way of ancient pagan thought which it borrowed so much from (the fact that pagan thought wasn't a very good fit with Christian doctrine was largely ignored, which is to say that the claim Jesus was God was ignored when convenient). The Renaissance and the Enlightenment owed much more to pre-Christian Greece and Rome that they did to Christ, Scripture or the Church Fathers.

Is it a good thing that "prostitution" (under any name) is stigmatized?
Do you feel obligated to use the euphemism "sex worker" rather than prostitute or whore?
Is sex "work"?
Is sex "an industry"?
Is selling or buying sexual access a legitimate commercial activity?
If selling sexual access is a legitimate commercial activity, should it be officially recognized, regulated, and commercially encouraged, like any other trade?
Is buying sex a legitimate, normal, moral act?
Do you think "sex workers" (as opposed to "prostitutes") freely choose to sell sex?
Do you think adverse circumstances is the likely cause of people becoming prostitutes?
Does promiscuous sexual activity reduce the need for people to buy sex?
Is "unable to obtain sex any other way" a legitimate reason to use pr
2 days ago — BC

No.
No.
It can be.
Oh yes.
It can be.
Yes. Taxed too.
It can be.
Don't know.
Don't know.
Don't know.
As legitimate as any other reason, I suppose.

He's an interesting man and significant figure in U.S. History (he brought the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius along with him on his trip along the Amazon, by the way, which I think impressive). But I find his daughter Alice even more interesting.

Christianity is kind of odd in that the central figure doesn't really demonstrate characteristics we'd think of a masculine. — frank

I agree, but consider the "muscular christianity" movement in Victorian England and beyond. Thomas Hughes, the author of Tom Brown's School Days, is credited with popularizing it. Muscular Christianity is characterized by "manliness" and "masculinity of character." Team sports figure in its development; scouting (as in boy scouts) with its emphasis on vigor and health became popular around the same time. God made men to be manly, as that is necessary to subdue the earth and protect women and the weak, you see. TR was a big fan of it, in fact.

Tom Brown's School Days at least served to inspire the marvelous Flashman series of novels by George MacDonald Frasier (Flashman was the villainous cheater and bully who was the chief opponent of the heroic Tom Brown).

It's amazing what purposes Christianity can be made to serve.

There's a book of hers I have but haven't yet begun reading: Putting Philosophy to Work: Inquiry and its Place in Culture. It looks good. It may include some of the essays you mention.

For me, the word "arena" refers to the arena where the Roman ludi took place. Combat by gladiators or the killing of wild beasts for the entertainment of the public. The "man in the arena" is properly a slave engaging in blood sports to amuse others, not the romantic hero portrayed by Roosevelt. TR certainly killed his share of wild beasts for his own amusement, of course, but if he thought of himself as "the man in the arena" I wonder if he understood what it implied.

What are your thoughts regarding the suggestion that 'pragmatists and feminists are necessary partners'? (see my underline below) — Amity

I'm not sure what it means, exactly. I'm not sure what a feminist-pragmatist or a pragmatist-feminist might be. I know of a pragmatist I admire who is a woman. She's Susan Haack, a valiant defender of pragmatism from the vagaries of such as Rorty, who thinks Dewey was a postmodernist before postmodernism became popular. I don't know if she qualifies as a feminist.

Dewey felt that philosophy, and specifically the process of inquiry as he described it, should be applied to social problems. If that's what feminists do, I suppose that has an association with pragmatism.

I'm unable to make the distinction you seem to make along with the majority, which you describe as follows:

According to the Supreme Court, being black in and of itself does not CAUSE you to have certain qualities, but it CAN cause you to experience circumstances that (by means of your response to those circumstances) creates those certain qualities. — Voyeur

So, being black can cause you to have certain experiences. You have them because you're black. You wouldn't have them, then, if you weren't black.

The experiences you have which are caused by the fact you're black can cause you to have certain qualities, but you don't have them because you're black. Yes?

But if they're caused by experiences resulting from the fact you're black, must it not be the case that you have them because you're black? You wouldn't have had those experiences but for the fact you're black. You wouldn't have had them if you were white, for example.

As a non-lawyer I suspect that if this lawsuit rises to the level of SCOTUS review, the Supremes will vote 6-3 in favor of pro-"legacy preference", etc. — 180 Proof

I thought this decision would spawn litigation, but this is pretty fast work on the part of plaintiffs' lawyers. Of course, the decision will also have the result that those involved in admissions decisions will be bombarded with essays of the kind the majority so blithely referenced at the conclusion of their opinion. But I think the decision will create all sorts of legal advocacy.

A court which held, previously, that spending money is speech in Citizens United and is now composed of even more justices with a similar mindset isn't likely to find any problem with a "legacy preference" or with preference being given to the children of large donors to an institution of higher education.

Still, it will be interesting, and revealing, how this litigation proceeds.

Legacy preferences should certainly be prohibited. So, I believe, should so-called "development cases" where preference is given to the children of wealthy donors. Or perhaps they could write essays describing how being legacies or the children of rich parents has resulted in the development of the individual qualities the majority admires which would contribute to the institution in question, in which case....

To dismiss those dissents (as well as concurring opinions), because they have little current use in the courtroom is to miss the point of the dissents/concurrences altogether. They are not written for the courtroom, they are written on and for the issue. Otherwise why write them, if they have no value? — Voyeur

I suspect they may be written for a number of reasons. Perhaps they'll turn out to be useful, sometime. In the here and now, in which a lawyer practices--in which decisions are made, people are impacted, lives are led--the majority opinion determines the law. What the law may be or could be in other circumstances, or should be, is a matter of speculation, and sometimes wishful thinking.

Do you treat all black people the same? Because all black people are black? Or do you treat them differently based on their personal characteristics, many of which are directly derived from their racial/cultural experiences of being black in a world of systemic racism? — Voyeur

Do you treat all people the same? Or do you acknowledge that some of them should be treated differently "based on their personal characteristics, many of which are directly derived from their racial/cultural experience of being black in a world of systemic racism?"

I think the majority contends that the Equal Protection Clause provides that all applicants must be treated the same. At the same time, however, they state that the Equal Protection Clause allows some of them to be treated differently due to "their racial/cultural experience of being black (for example) in a world of systemic racism." It would seem to me essential that one must be black to have the "racial/cultural experience of being black in a world of systemic racism."

It DOES mean the fact that the applicant is black figured into the decision. — Voyeur

Yes. Race is necessarily a factor, as those having the qualities the majority thinks merit consideration will have them because they're black. Now, though, it's necessary that in order for the race of an applicant to be considered, the applicant must establish that they have those qualities due to their race.

Affirmative Action may have presumed that discrimination takes place, and for that reason those discriminated against should be favored. The majority aren't brazen enough to claim that it has ceased entirely, though they seem to take the position it no longer creates a problem to be remedied and so no longer may be presumed. I think the majority tries to allow race to be considered while maintaining it can't be considered. It simply has made it more difficult for race to be considered, placing the burden on those who've been discriminated against to establish that the discrimination they suffered due to their race has rendered them worthy of consideration despite their race.







.

What Justice Gorsuch concludes regarding Title VI, in this case, is no more binding on a court (and of no more importance to me) than is the ass of a rattus rattus.
— Ciceronianus

Of course it's not binding, nowhere did I say it was. — Voyeur

Well, try to understand I've never before been asked to render a legal opinion on what a court didn't say in deciding a case, or about a holding it didn't make. It's not something that's come up in my practice. I assumed you were trying to address the actual decision in question.

And yes, concurring opinions and dissents are generally unimportant in the actual practice of law. I don't advise clients they have a good chance of success based on a dissent or a concurring opinion which differs from the rationale of the majority.

Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice. (majority decision)

I suspect that the musings made in the closing paragraphs of the majority opinion will come to be reqarded as dicta, depending on the spin it's desired to make.

Regardless, consider. An applicant may submit an essay regarding the wrongs experienced due to racial discrimination. So, the applicants race may be mentioned in the application process. A person reading the essay will, without much effort, rightly infer the applicant to be a member of the race discriminated against. So, the applicant's race will be known by those making the admission decision.

According to the majority, those making the admission decision may consider the impacts of discrimination against the applicant because of race (e.g. because the applicant is black) in coming to a decision. But, the admission decision cannot be made because the applicant is black, despite the fact that there would have been no discrimination, the impacts of which may be considered, had the applicant not been black.

Where does the black go? Applicant X should be admitted because of characteristics and abilities arising from discrimination against the applicant because the applicant is black (characteristics and abilities which presumably would not have arisen but for the racial discrimination), but that doesn't mean the fact the applicant is black figured in the decision to admit? It doesn't work, I'm afraid.