Category: philosophical counseling
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On Woody Allen’s modern philosophy
The other day I read an interview with Woody Allen. The interviewer’s penultimate question struck me as especially apt. (In the excerpt below, bold = interviewer’s question and regular text = Allen’s reply.) Machado de Assis is credited with inspiring magical realist writers. Judging from the previews, the protagonist of your latest film experiences some magic…
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Spiritual exercise: On giving pleasures their due
Perhaps you’d care to join me as I read a few a lines from Montaigne? I who am always down-to-earth in my handling of anything loathe that inhuman wisdom which seeks to render us disdainful and hostile towards the care of our bodies. I reckon it is as injudicious to set our minds against natural…
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On lovers and libraries
My ideal library would consist of 5 beautiful books: beautiful to behold and to taste. In grad school, we lined wooden planks and cinder blocks with the coolest books then available and when we threw a party people came over to admire–our books. They opened the door, said hello, and made their way over to…
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My quirky Spinoza on the nature of friendship
In my quirky reading, Spinoza’s Ethics is a book of friendship. Spinoza’s vitalist principle of life, the conatus, states that “Each thing, as far as it can by its own power, strives to persevere in its being” (Ethics 3P6). Very well then, but what’s the best way to persevere in one’s being? My quirky Spinoza replies, “Surround oneself…
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On having your life in order and on not having your life in order
I’ve begun sorting people according to 3 categories. (Get ready to cringe.) The first are those who have their lives in order.* With a handful of these people, I’ve become friends. I respect them, and I seek to emulate them. They are beautiful people. The second are those who don’t have their lives in order…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 