Political Philosophy and Ethics discussion
Introductions
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New Member Introductions
Mod
I am new to both the group and to goodreads itself. I hope to get the hang of things quickly.
I have general interests in the history of political thought, with special interests in..."
Welcome to the group, Matthew. Earlier today, I marked your book as "to read" in my reading list. It looks very interesting. Unfortunately, however, I may not get to it for quite awhile due to the hundreds of books I already have on that list. Nevertheless, I have always questioned the notion of inevitable progress, and I will probably acquire your book when my research leads me back to that issue.
I studied at the University of Chicago under a disparate group of thinkers: Daniel Boorstin, Frank Knight, F.A. Hayek, Yves Simon, Richard McKeon, Edward Shils, and David Grene. My eclecticism is celebrated and justified In my book The Reopening of the American Mind: On Skepticism and Constitutionalism and in three books on Kindle. I am, roughly speaking, neo-Aristotelian in connecting ethics and politics and have spent my career at three universities trying to assist individuals in the pursuit of a happy life and trying to improve institutions as modes of cooperation. James W. "Jim" Vice PS: The "Jr" was added by Social Security and is not on my birth certificate or public school records.
Mod
Welcome, Jim. The other group members should be apprised of the fact that Jim was assistant dean of the College at the University of Chicago when I was an undergraduate there from 1964 to 1968. He and I had several conversations during those years, and I recall his extensive personal library, which impressed and inspired me. Until yesterday, Jim and I had not been in communication since perhaps 1967, and it has been a singular delight to become reacquainted with him via modern technology after five decades. Jim's Amazon page is here. I have downloaded his three Kindle books and ordered the paperback of his work on constitutionalism and philosophy.
Hi Alan, thank you for creating and accepting me in this group. My name is Miguel and I joined this group because I want to learn from others more about philosophy. I love philosophy since I was younger and consider myself a searcher for the truth. I know that today the world believe in skepticism (a conundrum) and relativism. I am Christian, so I believe that universe must have laws, but we only know a few of them. I consider myself a searcher and learner for the truth of the universe. I look forward to watch the discussion in this group and learn from the other members.
Mod
Welcome to the group, Miguel. Please note that this group is limited to discussions of ethical and political philosophy. It does not address metaphysics, ontology, theology, analytic philosophy, etc. If you haven't already, please review the group rules on the group home page as well as in the Rules and Housekeeping topic.
Hello Eveyone! it pleases me greatly to be a part of this group. I love philosophy and i've been studying it my whole life. I acquired a masters degree in philosophy 4 years ago and i still continue to learn. I look forward to sharing ideas and learning more from all of you. Mike
Mod
Welcome to this group, Mike. Please note my preceding comment
about the group rules. All group members should familiarize themselves with these rules before posting comments in this forum.
Alan wrote: "I created this group in order to discuss the enduring questions of political and ethical philosophy. Anyone can join and continue in this group as long as they abide by the few rules of philosophic..." Hello, I'm Zak. I am a college student, and I plan to go for a philosophy and mathematics double-major. If I can, I might throw in a Classical Languages minor. I am gaining an interest in philosophy and great thinkers. I love tinkering with beautiful ideas. I am learning Attic Greek and German right now; I'm at the _very_ beginning stages of it. I also like Linux.
Zachary wrote: "Alan wrote: "I created this group in order to discuss the enduring questions of political and ethical philosophy. Anyone can join and continue in this group as long as they abide by the few rules o..."I want to study some Marx and Engels very soon. I have read some of the shorter articles from Tucker's Marx and Engels Reader, but I really want to get deep into the questions and concepts that were explored by these thinkers. I am also interested in ancient thought as well, such as Plato's Republic. I just want to understand how social and economic philosophy can function.
Zachary wrote: "... I also like Linux."Welcome Zachary. So you like “Linux” an outgrowth of Unix, brings back fond memories when I once worked at Bell Labs. Perhaps, you like C and C++ as well; another creation of Dennis Ritchie’s. Communicating to the computer at that level, one’s imagination becomes the limiting factor. However, computer science students learning those languages should also be tutored in ethics.
Mod
Welcome to this group, Zachery. I wish you the best on your studies! It happens that Attic Greek and German are also the two foreign languages I have studied. Attic Greek is especially interesting. Although I took only one quarter of it, I was able to learn the Greek alphabet as well as elementary vocabulary and grammar. I later studied it on my own and am able to follow the ancient Greek philosophers with some help from a lexicon, a Greek grammar, and good Greek-English translations. For example, I am currently reading Aristotle's The Art of Rhetoric. Different translators translate the word καλως (kalōs) differently: Joe Sachs translates it as "beautiful"; C. D. C. Reeve translates it as "noble"; and George A. Kennedy translates it as "honorable." One who studies ancient Greek comes to realize that καλως actually meant all of these things, often (but not always) depending on the context. At various points in this forum I recommend specific English translations as being more accurate than others. If you have a question about the best translation of a particular work, you can ask me in the forum or message me. Although I cannot address every author, I have some views about translations of works by Plato, Aristotle, and a few others. Of course, as the discussion in this forum sometimes reflects, people often disagree on these issues. That is why it is best to study the authors in their original languages if at all possible.
Mike wrote: "Zachary wrote: "... I also like Linux."Welcome Zachary. So you like “Linux” an outgrowth of Unix, brings back fond memories when I once worked at Bell Labs. Perhaps, you like C and C++ as well; a..."
I'm not much of a programmer, but I do like Perl, C, and Lisp. I know that Perl is often frowned upon it seems, but I like the flexibility that it offers; perhaps it kind of reminds me of Gertrude Stein, don't know. Lisp is so interesting and mathematical to me. I like the idea of lambda calculus, but I guess that Haskell also offers a flavor of this now as well. C is classic. I am using the Z shell right now, along with vim as my text editor of choice. I also use TiddlyWiki quite a lot, which is kind of like the original EverNote, but it has many more capabilities I might say. It's a bit difficult to get started with, but I know of scholars who love to use it for brainstorming and research. AT&T Bell Labs rocks, and that's so cool that you have this kind of experience with UNIX. I completely agree that a deep exploration of ethics needs to be a crucial part of how we develop technology and software, and it is often overlooked. I also feel that philosophy can connect together other domains of research, such as with economics. Philosophy should be intertwined within an economics curriculum. I don't feel that normative and positive economics should be so heavily separated. I might post some of my thoughts and questions on this via another thread.
Thanks.
Alan wrote: "Zachary wrote: "I am a college student, and I plan to go for a philosophy and mathematics double-major. If I can I might throw in a Classical Languages minor. I am gaining an interest in philosophy..." Thanks! I am currently at Unit 3 of Hansen and Quinn's Greek and Intensive Course 2nd edition. I am studying on my own right now. I also own the Smyth grammar and the Liddell and Scott lexicon. Note, a little known fact, Liddell interestingly enough was the father of Alice Liddell, the daughter who inspired Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_L... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_L.... I just discovered this recently via a friend of mine who has studied Koine. And, yes, I would love to borrow your knowledge of Greek and the various translations of works from time to time. This will be very useful. It can be difficult to find people who have really explored Attic, and so it is nice to find someone who has. This goodreads forum seems to have formed a great community, and I look forward to contributing to the intelligent discussion here.
Alan wrote: "Zachary wrote: "I am a college student, and I plan to go for a philosophy and mathematics double-major. If I can I might throw in a Classical Languages minor. I am gaining an interest in philosophy..."λόγος is another word that is often oversimplified in its translation. It is contained within the opening lines of the Gospel of John, for example, and it is often merely translated as 'word', when it had a much deeper meaning and cultural significance. I love this. It's nice to be able to dig deep into texts like this to gain a much better appreciation and context for understanding them.
Mod
Right. λόγος is one of my favorite words of all time.
Hey all, I’m Matt. I have an MA Philosophy and specialize in politics and economic philosophy, but mostly teach ethics and critical thinking. I’m happy to be here!
Mod
Welcome to the group, Matt.
Howdy. I have no formal degree in philosophy, but I did focus my studies on philosophy in so much as I could getting my associates, and the time I did spent at university was mostly spent expanding upon the education in philosophy. I didn’t finish with university, and philosophy is my hobby, not my profession. However, I am actually working on building a formal moral philosophy of my own design based on my own studies. I've been thinking on the matter for many years, but I've just started taking formal notes and started to flush it out properly.
The main thrusts I'm aiming upon are to prove most systems of morality, or ethics if you prefer, are left lacking because they either focus on intentions or on consequences. I don't think this is correct, I strongly feel it is both. Society presupposes both by using both.
I am of a mind that if I believe morality is a real thing, then any theory I come up with about it has to match how we actually deal with morality, as people and societies. On top of that, I have a hunch that the idea of "gray morality" is merely an illusion. I'm on a quest to discover the different source of gray morality and dispel them as only appearing gray for this, that, or the other reason. A daunting task that may prove to be fruitless.
However, for the most part, I am planning on observing and absorbing. I'll probably be background. I'm just bothering with this post at all just to let people know who I am, and why I'm here. and maybe to say who I am if I do happen to post.
Mod
Welcome to the group, Cody. You might find some or all of the topics in the ethics folder of interest.
IntroductionAs a new member, I provide the following by way of introduction.
Other than what I have generated as a professional scrivener, my authorship consists primarily of posts to my Blog and my initial self-published essay. A brief VC is available at:
http://philosophical-vistas.net/about-2/
Mod
As a new member, I provide the following by way of introduction.
Other than what I have generated as a professional scrivener, my authorship consists primarily of posts to my Blog and ..."
Welcome to this group, Wayne. You and I have somewhat similar backgrounds and are also of a similar age. Additionally, you hail from Michigan, and I grew up in Minnesota. Although I am currently preoccupied with my own book projects, I have put your book on my "to read" list, as I intend to get back to political philosophy thereafter.
Alan
(Moderator)
Hello everyone. I am Neha Deshpande. I am from India and I have started my first year of masters in Political Science and International Relations from Indira Gandhi Open University, Delhi. I am an UPSC aspirant, which is the entrance examination for civil services in India. I wish to join the Indian Administrative Service and work at the grassroot level of my country for its development. I am relatively new to the subject and hope to learn from everyone here. I hope to participate in the discussions and share my viewpoints.
Mod
Welcome, Neha, to the group, and best wishes on your career plans.
Alan
(Moderator)
Hi, I'm Nick from Flanders. I currently have a Bachelor degree in marketing and plan on getting an extra Bachelor PR. I have always had an interest in Politics and by extension everything that makes me smarter. So any book recommendation that can help me achieve this goal is always welcome and appreciated.
Mod
Hi, I'm Erik from Denmark. I'm joining this group in the hope that it can function somewhat like a book club, ie. with close readings of individual works of philosophy. I had a fascinating email correspondance with a friend when we both read Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia last year, and I would like to do something similar in this forum with other relevant books going forward.
Mod
Welcome, Erik, to this group. We tried a book club approach in this group in studying Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics . However, for a number of reasons, it did not work out so well. I suggest that you inquire whether others would be interested in exchanging such thoughts in emails among you. Of course, at any time you are welcome, subject to the group's rules, to record your thoughts in this group. However, the book club structure does not work very well in the present forum.
Alan
(Moderator)
Hello!I'm Jacky. I am a new attorney with a J.D. and masters of Catholic Studies, which is like a degree in history and philosophy from a Roman Catholic perspective. My undergrad degree was in history. Now I'm putting my philosophical training to good use by creating Youtube videos and joining online forums like this one. Thanks for the venue!
Mod
I'm Jacky. I am a new attorney with a J.D. and masters of Catholic Studies, which is like a degree in history and philosophy from a Roman Catholic perspective. My undergrad degree was in his..."
Welcome to the group, Jacky.
Mod
Welcome, Jim, to the group.
Hello everyone. My name is Jeffery Zavadil, and I got my PhD in political theory at Arizona State and my Master’s at Penn State. Although I don’t work in academia I’ve kept up my interest in political philosophy. I’ve written a dystopian/utopian trilogy which is really political theory written as fiction; the first book is called Mallworld, Incorporated. It is my attempt to write a “mirror for princes,” except for the citizens of a democracy eroded by capitalism.
Mallworld, Incorporated imagines what the world would be if the metaphor “society is a shopping mall” were a totalitarian reality where commodification and consumerism absolutely dominate existence. The trilogy then tries to trace a path out of that commercial dystopia by positing an ethic of “coexaltation,” under which society’s primary ethical goal is the cultivation and maintenance of healthy social and natural relationships, thus replacing instrumental rationality with interconnective rationality; an “interconnective republic” is established which synthesizes republicanism, ecosocialism, communitarianism, and liberalism. My website is here: http://www.coexalt.com.
Here’s the back-cover synopsis of Mallworld, Incorporated, which I will publish independently this spring:
“After the environment collapses, humanity lives in a giant shopping mall a thousand miles across. It seems like a paradise, but Mallworld’s greedy oligarchs subjugate the people through overwork, overconsumption, and bloody spectacles. Jime Galilei is a cynical, failing everyman who rejects bread-and-circus consumerism and ignites a political revolution to restore democracy, community, and a green Earth.”
I also run a philosophy Meetup in Washington, DC, The History of Philosophy Book Club, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary this November. We regularly engage with political philosophy: last year we discussed Rawls and his critics, Arendt, and Frantz Fannon, and we are currently in the middle of a three-session run on contemporary feminism. We’re also going to discuss William Galston and Pettit’s republicanism later this year. You can see us here: https://www.meetup.com/History-of-Phi...
I’m visiting here to read people’s ideas and opinions about political philosophy. This is a really fantastic site that shows the potential of modern communications when dedicated people interested in a topic follow fair rules and treat each other with respect. It’s really refreshing.
Mod
Welcome to the group, Jeffery. Your projects look quite interesting, and I wish you the best in pursuing them. Please don't hesitate to contribute to the group's discussions.
Mod
I have recently been in communication with Robert Hanna, an independent philosopher, author of many philosophical books and essays, and founder or co-founder of online philosophical websites/blogs. His approach to philosophy appears similar to that of Jeffery, as it is to my own. Bob Hanna will soon join our group. In the meantime he has authorized me to post the following description that he has penned:
PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT BORDERS, https://www.patreon.com/philosophywit..., aka PWB, is a small cosmopolitan community of people, widely distributed in space and across time-zones, connected by the internet, who are pursuing philosophy together as a full-time, lifetime calling, motivated by two basic aims:
• to enable and support the pursuit of philosophy, worldwide, and
• to create and share original works of philosophy freely available to anyone, anywhere.
Here’s our blog, AGAINST PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY, https://againstprofphil.org/
PWB also includes THE CONTEMPORARY KANTIAN PHILOSOPHY PROJECT, https://www.academia.edu/35704939/The...
And here are our two journals—
BORDERLESS PHILOSOPHY, https://www.cckp.space/
CONTEMPORARY STUDIES IN KANTIAN PHILOSOPHY, https://www.cckp.space/
Robert Hanna
Alan E. Johnson
Moderator
Alan wrote: "Jeffery and All:I have recently been in communication with Robert Hanna, an independent philosopher, author of many philosophical books and essays, and founder or co-founder of online philosophic..."
I read the article you posted by him and have seen the book of his that you have added to your lists. I have added it to my private to-read list as well. I am glad we will be getting a Kant expert in here! Considering Kant's central place to contemporary philosophy, I find this to be a most pleasant surprise.
We're going to have to stop slouching in our seats around here. Time to sit up straight, adjust our ties, sharpen our pencils and neaten our desks. No more doodling on our book covers. This is an influx of some serious brain power on the way. Look at all these new arrivals, and their earnest, eager young faces! :p I suspect jaundiced, embittered cynics like myself shall be tagged with radio collars and returned to the wild.
Mod
Perhaps not. Bob Hanna likes Diogenes the Cynic as well as Kant. Come to think of it, those two had virtually opposite personalities, not to mention lifestyles.
I don't wear a tie anymore except to weddings and funerals.
Feliks, you always have a way with words, and I appreciate/enjoy your comments even when I disagree with them.
Dear All,I'm very pleased to join the group, & many thanks! to Alan for inviting me.
I'm an independent philosopher, Co-Director (with Hugh Reginald) of the online philosophy mega-project, Philosophy Without Borders, and Director of The Contemporary Kantian Philosophy Project. I received my PhD from Yale University USA in 1989, and have held research or teaching positions at the University of Cambridge UK, the University of Colorado at Boulder USA, the University of Luxembourg LU, PUC-PR Brazil, Yale, and York University CA. Most importantly, I'm a philosophical generalist. My work has a broadly Kantian orientation, with contemporary application, centering on issues in the philosophy of mind-&-knowledge, philosophical logic, the philosophy of free will-&-agency, and ethics, broadly construed so as to include the philosophy of religion and political philosophy. I also have strong interests in the history of modern philosophy from Bacon/Hobbes/Descartes to contemporary philosophy, the philosophy of nature and natural science, critical metaphilosophy, and social philosophy. In those connections, I've authored or co-authored 140+ articles or book reviews and eleven books, including Kant and the Foundations of Analytic Philosophy (OUP, 2001), Kant, Science, and Human Nature (OUP, 2006), Rationality and Logic (MIT, 2006), Embodied Minds in Action (co-authored with M. Maiese, OUP, 2009), In Defense of Intuitions: A New Rationalist Manifesto (co-authored with A. Chapman, A. Ellis, T. Hildebrand, and H. Pickford, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), Cognition, Content, and the A Priori (OUP, 2015, aka THE RATIONAL HUMAN CONDITION, Vol.5), the first four volumes of THE RATIONAL HUMAN CONDITION (Nova Science, 2018), and The Mind-Body Politic (co-authored with M. Maiese, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Preview versions of those books, as well as published essays, current working drafts, & other information about various philosophy projects & journals that I'm running or editing, can be found here--https://colorado.academia.edu/RobertH...
Bob Hanna
Mod
I'm very pleased to join the group, & many thanks! to Alan for inviting me.
I'm an independent philosopher, Co-Director (with Hugh Reginald) of the online philosophy mega-project, Philo..."
Welcome to the group, Bob. I look forward to your contributions.
Alan
Alan, Bob, and all - thank you for the warm welcome, I look forward to mutually beneficial exchanges!
Speaking of Diogenes of Sinope, some of you might find this piece interesting--https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/on...
Regarding that finely-polished consideration of 'academic failure'. It's a scintillating and also a scathing read; but I am glad to see the author+commentators acknowledge that academic circles [even granting general observations re: loners vs groups] nevertheless do generate useful intellectual products. The author seems to revel slightly too much in the withering opinion he is leveling at tenured scholars. What he suggests is sharp-edged and acerbic, but makes me want to defend academics a little bit. Sure, campus life can be vain and insular, but I bet if we looked for examples, we could find evidence of great, nonconformist thought that yet emerged from the halls-of-ivy. I privately think that when a team of passionate professors unite to solve some problem for the better good, they can be a powerful force. Sometimes in the course of a career, opportunities do arise, and extraordinary sacrifices are witnessed. I'm thinking of fields like environmental sciences, civil rights, etc. Professors can sometimes be heroes, is all I'm asserting here. It's not entirely a matter of 'groupthink' vs 'rebels'. Sometimes, all that 'loners' can contribute are dead-ends which no on else but other loners like them, care to traverse.
p.s. An example of an intellectual 'group' which can produce superb, individualistic thought? How about the US Supreme Court?
I completely agree! that the piece is somewhat polemical, & strongly worded for rhetorical effect--& in that sense, very much in the tradition of Diogenes.And I also completely agree that there are some professional academic counterexamples to the general thesis, & that "professors can sometimes be heroes."
The US Supreme Court is an interesting non-professional-academic case of a social institution with a heavy intellectual component: yes, I agree that it can sometimes produce "superb, individualistic thinking"--but also, of course, all-too-often, awful, mind-manacled group-think.
Anyhow, I think of Chomsky as an excellent example of a professional academic superstar who's been able to think critically for himself & say "dangerous" anarcho-socialist things, a modern Socratic gadfly & serious critic of American government domestic & foreign policy, but also capitalism, ever since the late 60s & early 70s.
Still, even Chomsky, as far as I know, didn't say boo to a goose in a radical political sense, during the early cold war & McCarthy era in the 50s, when it probably would have destroyed his career, & began to speak out publicly in print against the Vietnam War only in 1967 when he was already a global academic superstar for his work in psycholinguistics & cog sci, & the intellectual/sociopolitical tide had turned leftward.
The US Supreme Court is also somewhat disanalogous to the regular professional academy, since they're as it were placed above the rest of the legal profession as "legal superstars" & of course as a social institution it's designed to provide a critical checks-&-balances counterweight to the executive branch & Congress: that's their job description.
So the general thesis, that by far the majority, perhaps even 99%, of all recent & contemporary professional academics, are ideologically highly disciplined, from early grad school right through their careers to retirement, can still hold.
For a less polemical & more scholarly (& indeed infra-professional-academic) very recent expression of essentially the same thesis, Stephen Turner's "Beyond the Academic Ethic"--
https://www.academia.edu/41076718/Bey...
is a good short read.
And Jeff Schmidt's *Disciplined Minds*--
https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Mi...
which also defends essentially the same thesis, but generalizes it beyond the professional academy to professional life in general, is an equally good longer read....
Mod
I do not have such experience, having been a lawyer and not a professor. However, much of my legal work involved constitutional litigation in various federal district courts and in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Sixth Circuits. I also prepared petitions for writ of certiorari and oppositions to such petitions in the U.S. Supreme Court. During the course of this work and in my earlier status as a political science major and later status as an independent scholar (author of two postretirement books on matters involving constitutional law), I have become quite familiar with U.S. Supreme Court cases. I agree with Bob that the Supreme Court is really not analogous in any meaningful way with academia. And the quality of the opinions coming out of the Supreme Court over the centuries has varied widely. Remember that the justices are selected through a political process involving a nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate. Some of the opinions have been outstanding and even revolutionary, e.g., some of Chief Justice John Marshall's opinions in the early decades of the republic, Brown v. Board of Education, and so on. Others have been mediocre or, in some cases, downright evil (Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, etc.). In my view, the Supreme Court reached its zenith in the 1960s; it has been going downhill ever since, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel (to mix metaphors).
Hello fellow humans!My name is Ahmad and I am new to this website. Because of the corona virus I have a lot of free time therefore I have decided to revive my old passion for reading. I am interested in philosophy, history, politics, economics, religion, geography, science and a lot of other things!
Hope you're all well!
Mod
My name is Ahmad and I am new to this website. Because of the corona virus I have a lot of free time therefore I have decided to revive my old passion for reading. I am intere..."
Welcome to the group, Ahmad.
Hi guys,I'm Jake, I've been on Goodreads for just over a year and somehow only now discovering that these brilliant groups exist!
I finished studying economics and finance at University last year so any book business or economics usually catches my eye! But I'm also big into history, politics and any books that I can learn something useful or interesting from!
I'm aiming to read 20 books this year as I only managed 17 last year.
Looking forward to getting involved in the group!
Mod
I'm Jake, I've been on Goodreads for just over a year and somehow only now discovering that these brilliant groups exist!
I finished studying economics and finance at University last ye..."
Welcome to this group, Jake.
Political Philosophy and Ethics
Books mentioned in this topic
A Brief History of Philosophy: From Socrates to Derrida (other topics)A History of Western Philosophy (other topics)
An Economy of Want (other topics)
Kafka Unleashed: Stories, Dreams & Visions (other topics)
Threeway: A Short Novel for a Long Season (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Seneca (other topics)Augustine of Hippo (other topics)
Georgina T. (other topics)
I am new to both the group and to goodreads itself. I hope to get the hang of things quickly.
I have general interests in the history of political thought, with special interests in the nineteenth century and nationalism. I also have a soft spot for the Stoics.
My book on critics of the idea of progress was released by the University of Pennsylvania Press in November. Please feel free to check out my author page for more details.
Apart from reading, writing, and teaching about political theory/intellectual history, I do work on contemporary European politics, with a focus on East Central Europe.
I look forward to being part of the group!