Thank you, Dom Eccleston, for a fantastic question; it scrutinizes the stereotype of the isolated contemplative sitting in an ivory tower rationalizing their way through metaphysical and existential puzzles. Questioning things that we take for granted is at the heart of philosophy, and all knowledge-driven endeavors, really. Because I trust that you’ll keep reading, I’ll […]
Does philosophy require solitude? Read More
“Does knowledge have intrinsic value or is its value respective to how applicable it is?” Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for another corker of a question. Aristotle is famous for saying that we all naturally desire knowledge. But do we always want to know the truth? (Cue Mario Winans’ “I don’t Wanna Know”.) Imagine you had
Does knowledge have intrinsic value? Read More
Thank you, Sajad Ali, for this interesting question. Aristotle famously believed that virtue is a mean between two extremes—for example, courage is a mean between recklessness and cowardice. Does this work for the desire for knowledge, too? In particular, can there be an excess of such a desire? There is no name for the virtue
Can the desire for knowledge be considered greedy? Read More
Thank you for this crucial question. Aristotle believed that the highest human end is happiness, and that politics (or what Aristotle called “statesmanship”) is the science that directs the political community toward happiness. One possible consequence of this view is that what we nowadays call “science”—the systematic examination of the empirical world—is subordinate to politics
Is politicization of science justified? Should science be governed by politics? Read More
Thank you, Zeeshan Ahmed, for an intriguing question. What it means to ‘comprehend’ something is its own interesting philosophical question, and one that’s received less attention that might be expected. However, we can probably say a couple of things to shape our thinking without much controversy. One is that comprehension involves appreciating the structure, or
Thank you, TG Dee, for this perennial question. To understand why this seems to be the case, we have to understand what it is to be good or to be evil. It seems to me that to be good involves acting, desiring, feeling, in accordance with certain standards. For multiple reasons it is not easy
Why is evil consistent and the good is faltering? Read More
The premise here being that emotional people are not mentally able to concentrate deeply on complex problems after a point of time when faced with personal or social turmoil. Maybe that’s why most scientists remain disconnected with the world. Thank you Bipul Verma for an intriguing question. The point is that some people have a
Excellent question, Huka Dabaso! This is actually something I have thought about quite a bit. Like many people, before I studied philosophy in a formal sense, I was pondering the same big questions that philosophy has been dealing with since… well, since we started wondering. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle says that philosophy began when man
How can we reconcile public philosophy with institutionalized philosophy? Read More
Where can one start at a basic level and then continue to develop understanding and love for the subject? Thank you, Nazzarene Zen, for such a heuristic question. In one sense, I cannot answer the question, because “difficult to comprehend” is very personal, as is the development of love. But I will offer some general
Why is metaphysics so difficult to comprehend? Read More
Thank you, John Presley, for a great question and a great opportunity to reflect upon the fluid and slippery nature of our cultural icons. As good Aristotelians, we need to break down the question in order to get to the truth. We can start by defining the term icon. We get the word from the
What makes an artist an icon? Read More
