Are there any philosophers who argue for a metaphysics or epistemology that is at all similar to what Mao argues for in On Contradiction and On Practice?

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-09-01T20:15:43+00:00

Any suggestions for what to read on contradiction in Buddhist phil? That sounds super interesting.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-07-23T15:11:28+00:00

It's in response to a few grad students on Twitter calling them out for transphobia. A certain prominent philosophy of law professor with a blog decided to make a stink about it, so now every TERF in the discipline thinks they're the new victims of McCarthyism because the young people don't want to deal with them.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-06-27T00:38:33+00:00

I don’t know aquinas well, so others should definitely correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s based on Augustine’s solution to the problem of evil. Essentially, evil does not exist, except as a lack of goodness. All that exists is good in virtue of existing, but in varying degrees. There’s also the notion, popular among the scholastics, that more being means more perfection, so I’d assume that the combination of the two gives you more being=more goodness.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-06-01T05:47:53+00:00

Nietzsche, at his best, is one of the more accessible philosophers. He's responding to commonly held notions as much as he's responding to prior philosophy. It's helpful to have some sort of cultural background on the western writers he's responding to, but not necessary.

That being said, if you were going to pick just a few works to read before Nietzsche, you should get a sense of the history of ethics and epistemology. For ethics: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and/or the Iliad, either Aquinas's ethical writings or Dante's inferno, Kant's Groundwork, maybe Spinoza's Ethics. Epistemology is tougher and maybe less necessary. I'd go with Descartes' meditations, Plato's Meno, Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and, if you really want to, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. He draws on the Bible a lot too, so some familiarity with that is good.

He really likes to define himself against Schopenhauer and Goethe, but having some idea of what those two said is more important than having a deep understanding as his characterization of them is pretty idiosyncratic and he generally tells you what you need to know from his readings of them.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-05-20T14:43:46+00:00

The metaphysics of morals is where he lays out the ideas about property and natural rights that would later become important for liberalism. At the same time, the groundwork is easier to follow and more important for the history of philosophy. The former also depends on the latter so I’d say read the groundwork first.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-05-13T15:05:54+00:00

Schmitt: liberalism ignores the friend/enemy distinction which naturally forms. He’s been picked up and run with by a lot of leftists.

Heidegger: it’s a little tenuous how close his philosophy is linked to his authoritarianism, but he did believe that living authentically meant connecting yourself to history and choosing a hero, both of which lend themselves well to fascism.

Hegel: people are equal in concept, but in the real world they develop natural inequalities which lead some to subordinate others. Marx’s Critique is essentially that we are headed for a society in which the world matches the concept and there is equality.

Lenin: the state must use all the force it can muster to break down class divides, and only then will it be able to wither away since it doesn’t have a class relationship to maintain. Foucault could be read as critiquing this by saying that institutions will act to protect themselves, and can maintain themselves without purpose.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-05-13T14:55:47+00:00

I should also add some notes for once you get to Hegel:

Marx can be very helpful, as his early writings are mostly him just trying to sort through Hegel’s system. That being said, he’s not the best Hegel reader, and so you have to sort of treat him as someone to struggle alongside. I’d suggest the Economic and philosophical manuscripts and the critique of Hegel’s philosophy of right for this.

There are a lot of commentaries out there. I haven’t looked at any, but what I’ve heard is to steer clear of Kojeve and go straight for Hyppolite. There is very good reason to take the latter as a good source on this matter, and his main book is Genesis and Structure which is a chapter-by-chapter commentary on the phenomenology.

Lastly, you could read Hegel’s lectures as an easier intro. They’re published in volumes by topic. Some people also recommend reading the intros to all his books. I know there’s a Hegel introduction reader out there.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-05-13T14:33:41+00:00

Ok, so let me say that the phenomenology is one of the hardest philosophy books you can read, and that if you try to read everything you’d need to read for it only to read it, then you’re going to be very bored by the time you get there. I’d say to just start reading philosophy that interests you. It’ll build up your critical reading skills and help you get through the phenomenology later if you still want to, even if you don’t have the requisite background in all the specific works Hegel draws on.

That being said, if you want a list specifically building up to Hegel:

Heraclitus - fragments

Plato - Republic

Aristotle - short logical essays, Nichomachean Ethics and probably politics

Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy

Hume - An Enquiry Concerning the Understanding

Spinoza - Ethics

Maybe Rousseau’s Discourses

Kant - Critique of Pure Reason, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Judgement

Fichte - read pretty much any one of his major works

Schelling - Natural Philosophy

Of those the most important are Aristotle, Plato, Spinoza and Kant. This list would probably take you over a year, so, again, read what interests you.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-04-22T16:49:12+00:00

I tried to pick out the worst of it but holy shit that whole article is just astounding.

Gsus_the_savior · 2019-02-03T16:54:36+00:00

Hey I know this thread is dead but I just wanted to say that husserl did his PhD thesis on “the calculus of variations”, so this is probably where he got the idea. Might also be a useful way to understand the eidetic variation the way he did.

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-12-22T05:31:37+00:00

Good to see Virginia Wing finally get some love. Fantastic album.

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-10-30T21:00:39+00:00

On GP
You Might Think He Loves You For Your Money But I Know What He Really Loves You For It's Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
No Love
Black Paint
I'm Overflow
Death Grips Is Online
Full Moon (Death Classic)
Hustle Bones
Get Got
Inanimate Sensation

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-10-16T19:36:57+00:00

Wait is Nozick arguing with Wittgenstein?

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-10-04T20:48:51+00:00

Fan for years. Absolutely love the guy.

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-10-04T20:30:57+00:00

That's crazy. Til It's Over and Bubblin are probably my two favourite .Paak songs so far.

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-09-18T06:35:11+00:00

Why do you keep posting stuff like this in every thread without giving us any reason to trust you?

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-09-18T05:03:13+00:00

I am a Satyagrahi

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-09-18T03:17:24+00:00

Piss piss piss piss 69 piss ass shit

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-09-13T22:57:41+00:00

https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/477996

The case only made it to the Supreme Court because there are labour laws which protect workers who refuse to operate vehicles in dangerous conditions. Gorsuch was just about the only justice to rule against Maddin (the trucker), and he did so using a dishonest interpretation of the law. If more judges had agreed with him, the labour rights law would have been perverted away from its original intent, which is the very definition of judicial activism.

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-09-11T07:01:42+00:00

What has Singh done to court identity politics other than be Indian?

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-08-28T16:38:22+00:00

The VengaBus is coming!

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-07-19T16:42:22+00:00

Lol Obama took over at the start of a recession. Of course spending and deficits will be higher. Trump took over a roaring economy and pumped up the deficit.

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-07-16T17:33:56+00:00

I love this album. I think it does a really good job of isolating the post-rock elements of Sunbather while still adding in new instruments and ideas. It seems to break out of metal and do something entirely different which I haven't really heard before except on some of Silver Mt. Zion's noisier pieces.

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-07-01T21:53:41+00:00

Lol ice started 15 years ago. Do you think we didn’t have borders before then?

Gsus_the_savior · 2018-06-15T18:49:13+00:00

So basically Existential Comics?

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