Category: Philosophy

Here are some simplistic reflections about the fairly common black and white characterization of capitalism vs. communism/socialism. Sometimes simple perspectives, if we keep in mind that the omitted details are what people actually live, can provide some useful insights. The core ideas of capitalism are that unrestrained supply and demand will naturally lead to lower …

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My Youtube.com  logic videos have gotten over 13,500 views and nearly 54,000 minutes of viewing time in 110 countries. This is tiny traffic compared to commercial sites but I only have 12-20 students a semester in my logic class so I was surprised that even a handful of other people noticed them. Logic has become my favorite class to …

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I’m once again teaching a philosophy course to inmates of California State prisons.  It is literally a correspondence course. We write to each other.  The students get textbooks, a course packet, assignments, and the college arranges regular delivery cycles between students and instructors. The course beings like many introductory philosophy courses. We talk about Plato’s …

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Downton Abbey is a Brit Masterpiece Theatre drama about a semi-Royal and rich aristocratic family in the early 1900’s and their servants.  It’s as much or more about the servants as the family who employs them. I watched a few episodes and could hardly turn it off.   Don’t wait in hopeful suspense that the …

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Things have happened in the past, right? But the past isn’t a container or a place.  Its the current traces of events that are over and out, done, traces of events no longer happening.  Memories are like tree rings or a gully.  They may mark our growth or changes but they don’t exist anymore than …

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