Month: August 2014

• August 31, 2014

  Self-deception: A threat to philosophizing

  Self-deception–what is it? It seems to be rather like lying to oneself, but how does one do that? You can lie to others, but it beggars the comprehension to fathom how one could pull off the trick of lying to oneself. This may be why we say that self-deception is like lying to oneself. Deceiving oneself is not…
• August 25, 2014

  A review of Chapter One of Sam Harris, Waking Up: Preliminary questions

  I recently read Chapter One of Sam Harris’s forthcoming book, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion and found myself thinking, ‘This may not end up being an excellent book, but for all that it is an important and prescient one.’ (You can read Chapter One here on his website.) Harris’s principal question, which goes unstated…
• August 22, 2014

  Higher Ways of Life in Modernity: A Chart

  Chart designed by Aleksandra Marcella Lauro
• August 21, 2014

  Truthfulness in philosophizing

  I have come to believe that the two virtues required for anyone to philosophize with me are truthfulness and courage. Often, I have spoken of bravery, so this virtue can be put off to the side in this post in order to consider truthfulness on its own. Truthfulness involves putting a desire to know something about…
• August 19, 2014

  The Good Life and Sustaining Life: Day 1. The Question of the Good Life

  The renouncer.– What does the renouncer do? He strives for a higher world, he wants to fly further and higher than all affirmers–he throws away much that would encumber his flight, including some things that are not valueless, not disagreeable to him: he sacrifices it to his desire for the heights. Nietzsche, The Gay Science…