Category: meditation
-
Philosophical portraiture: ‘What the eyes cannot see’
In Aleksandra’s recently completed philosophical portrait (visible below), the man exhibits soft concentration while the woman exudes a soft composure attained through experience and contemplative practice. Both appear to be thinking together about the non-discursive. The allusion in the title is to an early Daoist text called Inward Training. In Verse 4, the authors write, As for the Way: It…
-
On a category mistake: ‘Human beings are weak’
Here are three questions that fascinate me: 1.) How did we go from being creatures who above all ‘desire to know’ (Aristotle, Metaphysics I)–let us say: to understand our place in the world–to being creatures who want most of all to be helped (modernity)? 2.) How did the accidental property of weakness (e.g., feeling weak on Tuesday)…
-
Against empathy
Consider a commonplace yet erroneous metaphysical assumption about (modern) human beings made by most people today (especially those in the caring profession): In virtue of our being inherently weak and prone to suffering, we human beings yearn to be helped. * Two brief anecdotes that tell against this picture: One philosophical friend suggested, ‘There is nothing more…
-
If human beings are not weak, suffering creatures, then…
Consider a commonplace metaphysical assumption about (modern) human beings made by most people today (especially those in the caring profession): In virtue of our being inherently weak and prone to suffering, we human beings yearn to be helped. This argument leads to the corollary that we are all, potentially or actually, victims. Let us reject the claim that…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 
You must be logged in to post a comment.