This slightly repetitive but fascinating New York Times op-ed piece (“Wittgenstein’s Confession”) takes us into a real-life dilemma of one of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951).
Month: September 2018
Quote: Aristotle on the Pursuit of Philosophy
For 'reason is the god in us' [some poets say] and 'Mortal life contains a portion of some god.' We ought, therefore, either to pursue philosophy or to say farewell to life and depart hence.
Quote: Otto Weininger on Logic and Ethics
Logic and ethics are fundamentally the same, they are no more than duty to oneself.
Quote: E.O. Wilson on Our Bloody Nature
Our bloody nature, it can now be argued in the context of modern biology, is ingrained because group-versus-group was a principal driving force that made us what we are. In prehistory, group selection lifted hominids to heights of solidarity, to genius, to enterprise. And to fear.
Are You an Individualist or Collectivist?
Do you think your individual or group identity is more important? Are you an individualist or collectivist?
Quote: Plato on Queer, Vicious, or Perfectly Useless Philosophers
Of all those who start out on philosophy—not those who take it up for the sake of getting educated when they are young and then drop it, but those who linger in it for a longer time—most become quite queer, not to say completely vicious; while the ones who seem perfectly decent ... become useless Plato Republic (487C-D)
Idealism: A Minimalist Conceptual Graphic from Philographics
Idealism: The philosophical view that asserts that reality is fundamentally based on and shaped by ideas and mental experience, rather than material forces.
Big Thinkers, Big Questions, Big Problems
Last century's biggest tech giant reviews this century's biggest thinker asking today's biggest questions. Oh yeah, and it's all in the world's biggest newspaper.