Month: December 2014
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Two basic philosophical questions: Perfectibility and self-understanding
There are two sorts of philosophical questions that, though related, are actually separate, with the first question gaining unwarranted authority over the second. One is: how can I improve myself? The other is: how can I understand myself? When I ask, ‘How can I improve myself or my life,’ I am thinking in some such terms:…
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Two mistakes hidden by ‘meaningful work’
Number of Hours Spent Working Imagine you spent a millisecond working every day. Imagine further that this millisecond was the length of time required for you to meet your material needs. Would you think at all about a concept such as ‘meaningful work,’ a concept that, according to Google Ngram Viewer, only came into prominence during…
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The riddle of meaningful work
A Misplaced Desire The desire to do meaningful work or to do what one loves needs to be brought into question. I too once made the assumption that meaningful work stretches most of the way across a good life. I don’t think so any longer. Further philosophical and historical reflection reveals that the desire for meaningful work…
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Movement and rest: The modern vs. the ancient view
The Modern Picture: Movement Before Rest 1. We moderns believe that movement is metaphysically prior as well as superior to rest. 2. To move is chiefly to act. 3. Action is goal-oriented. 4. An act is the means by which something other (a goal, an ideal, a target) is realized. 5. Action is governed chiefly by…
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Socrates contra dogmatism, skepticism, and agnosticism
How, in all things, does one steer clear of dogmatism without being a skeptic or becoming an agnostic? The dogmatist is anyone who claims to know for certain, the skeptic (of the kind I have in view) being doubtful about what we can know for sure. If we are neither dogmatists nor skeptics, then aren’t we committed…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 