Monthly Archives: April 2007

How do Knowledge and Virtue Relate? On Aristotle’s Ethics, Bk. 2 Chp. 4

The translation of the Ethics used below is Joe Sachs’. The quotes are from Bk. 2, Chapter 4 (1105 a17 – 1105 b18) The issue is locating the key problem in the opening paragraph of Aristotle’s chapter. We will begin with a part of it and skip ahead in the chapter to shed light on …

April 30, 2007 – 4:10 pm | By ashok | Posted in aristotle, philosophy | Tagged | Comments (0)

On Aging and the Mind

For all the complaining I do about my professors, I greatly admire them in one way – they know how to stay young while not acting like high schoolers. They’ve grown old and matured. And I can’t help but think that this is a result of appreciating knowledge. Outside of my immediate circle of friends, …

April 29, 2007 – 11:54 pm | By ashok | Posted in academia | Comments (1)

Comprehensive Exams Complete, Now I Have to Really Work

The oral exam went well, I felt. But now it is dissertation time and I need another topic.I really don’t want to write anything today. Thank you all for your prayers, wishes and support. Powered by ScribeFire.

April 28, 2007 – 9:43 pm | By ashok | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

And I’m out of here again…

…will resume posting again Saturday evening or Sunday. Oral exam the 27th, 1 pm – other than that, Dallas should be fun, and I should come back smarter (or, if things don’t go too well, “wiser”).Do feel free to drop comments in this entry linking to your best posts explaining why people should read them. …

April 24, 2007 – 11:46 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (1)

The Spirit of A Nation: A Brief Comment on Yeats’ "Easter 1916"

for Rachael, with thanks. Too long a sacrificeCan make a stone of the heart.O when may it suffice?That is Heaven’s part, our partTo murmur name upon name,As a mother names her childWhen sleep at last has comeOn limbs that had run wild.What is it but nightfall?No, no, not night but death;Was it needless death after …

April 24, 2007 – 10:52 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, politics, yeats | Tagged | Comments (0)

Greatness and Individualism in Tocqueville

Tocqueville agrees with Rousseau that compassion is a necessary corrective to self-interest. But he does not rhapsodize over sympathetic feeling for one’s fellow creatures in the Rousseauian style; he is rather cool about compassion (DA II, 3.1-4). Compassion is as much an extension of self-interest as a corrective, and as such it is limited to …

April 23, 2007 – 2:17 pm | By ashok | Posted in politics | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Innovation in Politics and the Potential of the Internet

To reach an electorate bombarded with messages from the new and old media, politicians will have to make more use of online journals or blogs, and sites such as Facebook and MySpace. They also need to move into video-sharing sites and forums where ideas and policies can be challenged online. “They haven’t been very innovative,” …

April 22, 2007 – 9:52 am | By ashok | Posted in lincoln, media, politics | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Understanding One’s Audience

Reading Aristotle’s Ethics slowly, stopping at every paragraph to ask “why was this paragraph written?” If one doesn’t read carefully, he seems to repeat himself a lot, or say obvious things. Truth is, he always has an eye to a particular audience and their concerns: i.e. he starts Book 1 talking about the problem of …

April 22, 2007 – 6:38 am | By ashok | Posted in blogging, personal, writing | Tagged | Comments (0)

On the Good: Comment on Aristotle’s Ethics, Bk. 1 Chp. 6

Translations of quoted material below and citations are from/of Joe Sachs’ translation, published by Focus, 2002. The essay is as difficult as it gets and is highly, highly speculative. 1. Background: The Audience of the Ethics Aristotle begins by saying he wants to “examine the universal good and go through the difficulties in the way …

April 20, 2007 – 9:30 am | By ashok | Posted in aristotle, philosophy, plato | Tagged | Comments (0)

A Few Housekeeping Matters…

Fixed that annoying thing the podcast was doing, which was play whenever the page loaded. That actually kept me from loading my own blog for a little while. Please do inform me if this has not been fixed for you. It is worth going through my bookmarks at Ma.gnolia now, since I have linked to …

April 19, 2007 – 9:31 am | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (0)