Category: philosophical counseling

• August 23, 2016

  Philosophy and Linguistic Tyranny

  Philosophy is no match for linguistic violence. Aggressive assertion bordering on the ad hominem can only elicit meditative silence or, egged on into heedless reaction, mad rhetorical venom. Philosophy not only cannot compete but also dies when language gets armed, and armed language cannot be disarmed by the probing question. Moral probity and great earnestness, both taking shape…
• August 9, 2016

  The Future of Play

  In which I argue [here’s the link] on LinkedIn against two conceptions of work–work as drudgery and “meaningful work”–and then go on to propose that play should take precedence over work. The argument on play (human beings as homo ludens) needs, in the future, to be extended considerably to order to bring out its supreme value…
• July 29, 2016

  Why Spreading Disquiet is not OK

  I What does a Buddhist view of dukkha have to say about an area of ethical life that, albeit nearly everywhere evident, goes largely unremarked upon? Let me turn to the first two Noble Truths in order to set up what I wish to argue. The First Noble Truth is that life as we know it is dukkha (unsatisfactoriness, disquiet).…
• July 11, 2016

  The Great Muddle: Sorting Out and Cluelessness (III)

  Argument Revisited In these posts intended to make plain to me and to others what the Great Muddle is, I have been arguing that we are living in Unsettled Time, a period during which our collective way of life is slowly receding while a new way of life has yet to come into being. To…
• July 5, 2016

  The Great Muddle: Four Demotivating Replies (II)

  In these posts, I explore what I’m calling the Great Muddle with the aim of making more sense of what it is and of what it means for us. Setting the Stage for the Great Muddle In the last post, I argued that we’re living in Unsettled Time, which can be understood as a moment in history…