Category Archives: philosophy

“What I will never see again I must love forever.”

It need not be said that the full implications of this statement take a lifetime to realize. Of significantly less consequence is how ‘love as memory’ affects what we profess. I’ve been curious recently about the structure of a short essay by Strauss featuring this passage: In Cohen’s deliberately exaggerated expression, God’s being becomes actual …

January 31, 2012 – 10:49 am | By ashok | Posted in christianity, love, philosophy | Comments (0)

“When Plato attempts to establish the existence of natural right, he reduces the conventionalist thesis to the premise that the good is identical with the pleasant.”

This is something I have to work harder to see in Plato, partly because Strauss is working with a more refined definition of conventionalism than the one I typically use: Contrary to our first impression, conventionalism does not assert that the meaning of right or justice is altogether arbitrary or that there is no universal …

January 27, 2012 – 9:01 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics | Comments (1)

The Relevance of Plato’s Minos

Lungs not in the greatest shape – been taking repeated nebulizer treatments and inhaler puffs yesterday and today. More on this later. Not taking any chances: this will be delivered in little more than an hour but was promised to many others ahead of time. Paper here – it is considerably different than these remarks, …

January 12, 2012 – 5:50 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, plato, politics | Comments (2)

God made Man: On Euripides’ Bacchae

Unless otherwise indicated, numbers in parentheses are line numbers. SUMMARY Dionysus, god of wine, returns with an Asian following to the place of his conception: Thebes. His mother was one of Cadmus’ daughters (Cadmus being Thebes’ legendary founder). Asia now understands his creed and dances accordingly. Thebes still rejects him. Its current ruler, Pentheus, will …

January 1, 2012 – 6:37 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Skyrim and Political Philosophy

Spoilers galore ahead. Not intended to be correct or comprehensive by any means. Certainly not objective. I simply want to make a few observations and get the Elder Scrolls community talking. 1. Once upon a time there were dragons whose power may have stemmed from words. They established a rule of sorts over men. Then …

December 26, 2011 – 3:01 am | By ashok | Posted in media, philosophy, politics | Tagged | Comments (0)

Aristotle’s Criticism of Thales: Metaphysics 983b17 – 984a5

Of Thales we know virtually nothing. However, Aristotle’s comment on his thought in-and-of itself is worthwhile: For there must be some nature, either one or multiple, out of which the other things come into being while that one is preserved. About the number and kind of such sources, however, they do not all say the …

October 22, 2011 – 10:35 pm | By ashok | Posted in aristotle, philosophy | Comments (3)

Notes on “Mathemata” in Heidegger’s “Modern Science, Metaphysics, and Mathematics”

1. Heidegger cites Kant as giving us a “fundamental feature of modern science:” …modern science is mathematical. From Kant comes the oft-quoted but still little understood sentence, “However, I maintain that in any particular doctrine of nature only so much genuine science can be found as there is mathematics to be found in it” (Preface …

October 18, 2011 – 3:50 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy | Tagged | Comments (3)

Ancients and Moderns: On Aristotle’s Politics I.1 (1252a 1-25)

The Aristotle quoted below is from the Carnes Lord translation of the Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1985). 1. Aristotle opens and immediately challenges us and our modern world: Since we see that every city is some sort of partnership, and that every partnership is constituted for the sake of some good (for everyone does …

September 28, 2011 – 4:01 am | By ashok | Posted in aristotle, philosophy, politics | Comments (1)

Heidegger’s Sojourns: Pindar and the Possibility of Political Philosophy

Heidegger quotes Pindar’s Olympian Ode to comment on his own experience of Olympia: Water is preeminent and gold, like a fire Burning in the night, outshines All possessions that magnify men’s souls. But if, my soul, you yearn To celebrate great games, Look no further For another star Shining through the deserted ether Brighter than …

September 12, 2011 – 3:55 am | By ashok | Posted in philosophy, politics | Tagged | Comments (3)

A Thought on Philosophy and Travel

One could well imagine instances in which such sights would serve to confirm something thought; for example, that the sight of the pyramids might have served to confirm what Kant had thought about the estimation of magnitudes in judgments of the sublime. But in the case of Heidegger’s travel to Greece, even the sense of …

September 8, 2011 – 12:26 pm | By ashok | Posted in philosophy | Tagged | Comments (2)