Tag: philosophy
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The decline of patronage and the rise of philanthropy
A patron is to a contemplative age what a philanthropist is to an action-oriented one. During the passage to modernity, we see a slow yet undeniable shift away from patronage as a way of displaying generosity and toward philanthropy as a ‘style’ of contributing to social change. Edward Craig’s well-researched book The Mind of God…
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Walking… philosophy… waking: A reverie
My personal essay on Daoism and philosophical practice can now be read at The Dark Mountain Project. In terms of genre, it embodies the form of a gift. It also serves as a companion piece for my intellectual history, “Following Nature’s Course,” Dark Mountain Project: Book 3, which is forthcoming.
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On good humor and good thinking
1 The story goes that Plato is giving a lecture in the Academy on the essence of man. “What is man?” he asks. His pupils listen intently. “Man,” he answers, “is a featherless biped.” It is these properties that, conjointly, distinguish us from the mere brutes. At which point, Diogenes of Sinope bursts into the…
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The hardness and the softness of philosophical practice
“Whitman’s central image, the leaves of grass, a form of life that perishes but rises again and again out of its own decay” (231). –Lewis Hyde, The Gift “Anything I have I bestow.” –Walt Whitman, Song of Myself There is a hardness as well as a softness to the philosophical life. Like leaves of grass,…
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Gary Gutting on happiness, philosophy, and science
Update: If you found my website by way of Arts and Letters Daily and if you’re interested in learning more about philosophical counseling in general or my philosophy practice in particular, you might try taking the following path: First, “On Prescribing Aristotle: Show Transcript and Clarifications”; Second, “A Few Essays on Philosophy as a Way of Life”; Third, “Toward…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 