Month: August 2015
-
What is Philosophical Inquiry For? A Reconsideration
I have been a philosophical guide for about five years. I believe that a philosophical guide inquires with another human being about his life. The question soon and often emerges: what is philosophical inquiring for? Initially (around 2011-12), I provided an answer that was too stringent: the aim of philosophical inquiry is to lead a radiant life. (See A…
-
Money Rules For Simple Living: A Very Brief Guide
Money Cares You are someone for whom scarcity has loomed large. You may have accrued some debt over the years, some of it on your credit card, the rest used to pay for your college education. You may not have much money now, and you’re beginning to wonder whether struggling just to get by is…
-
Contest 2: Charging. Toughness Training
I believe enduring something that threatens your life or what you care about is easier to do than charging into dangerous territory. This is why the first contest–the easiest–associated with learning toughness would withstanding. Will you withstand or will you cave in, give in? Now we come to the second contest: charging. And the question is:…
-
Contest 1: Withstanding. Toughness Training
Suppose there were a first contest in toughness and it was called “withstanding” or “wise endurance.” A tough person is someone who withstands or wisely endures certain things. Forgo the puzzling matter of which things should be endured and which should not. (Here see Plato’s Laches.) Simply suppose that this is something that needs to be withstood…
-
The Logical Order of Contests of Toughness
Suppose you wanted to become tougher and suppose too that you believed that you could only do so by training. Suppose, thirdly, that such training would consist of “tests of characters”–events that, putting pressure on you, come your way and require your right response–and of contests. Not quite a game and not quite battle but resembling both in different respects,…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 