Tag: moral philosophy

Gorgias (Image source: Wikimedia Commons, from an Italian book published in 1818)

1,742 words

Part 4 of 14 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 5 here)

Ethics as an Afterthought

Is Socrates right that sophistry is essentially amoral and technocratic? After all, the sophists were widely seen as not just teachers of rhetoric, but also as teachers of morals. However, as we shall see, both Polus and Callicles strongly embrace the amoral and technocratic idea of sophistry. Moreover, in the Meno — which is set in 402 BCE, after the Peloponnesian War and the latest possible date of the Gorgias — Meno tells Socrates: (more…)

Kristian Zahrtmann, Socrates and Alcibiades, 1911 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

2,356 words

Part 7 of 7 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here)

Having established that the true self is the soul and defended philosophical dialogue as the best path to self-knowledge, Socrates wraps up his argument.

Statesmanship & Moderation (more…)

Absolute Equality, a mural in Galveston, Texas commemorating Juneteenth.

2,316 words

Part 1 of 4 (Part 2 here)

Translated by F. Roger Devlin

In 1977 I published a thick book called Viewed from the Right which received the Grand Prix de l’Essai from the French Academy the following year and has since been reprinted a number of times. (more…)

2,640 words

To regard the immorality of the will as an imperfection of it would be a fundamentally false point of view. — Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea (more…)

1,368 words

Like many of you, I got caught up in the 2020 US presidential race. From Tuesday to Friday of election week, I was glued to the internet, biting my nails and hitting refresh like a rat in a Skinner box. (more…)

141 words / 76:09

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In the fall of 2000, I taught an adult education class entitled Philosophy on Film, where we discussed The Matrix, American Beauty, Ground Hog Day, Network, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Gattaca, and Crimes and Misdemeanors.

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Socrates

2,151 words

Author’s Note:

The following text is based on a transcript by Rollo Walker of a 1999 lecture on “Objectivity, Relativism, and Well-Being.” This text only includes the first half of the transcript, and it has been massively condensed and rewritten.

Socrates is famous for arguing that all human beings pursue happiness; (more…)

Gerrit van Honthorst, Croesus y Solon, 1624

2,271 words

English original here

Los dos ensayos de Carl Schmitt sobre “La Tiranía de los Valores” (1959 y 1967) son típicos de su trabajo. Contienen simples e iluminadoras ideas las cuales, sin embargo, son complicadas de poner en conjunto porque Schmitt las presenta sólo a través de conversaciones complejas con otros pensadores y escuelas de pensamiento. (more…)

6,138 words

Jeanne Argent, Alice Through the Looking Glass

English version here

Nota editorului:

Textul următor, scris în 1967, este unul din cele două eseuri publicate de Carl Schmitt sub titlul „The Tyranny of Values.” Ambele au fost reluate în Die Tyrannei der Werte (Hamburg: Lutherisches Verlagshaus, 1979). Traducerea este din The Tyranny of Values, iar traducător este Simona Drăghici (Washington, D.C.: Plutarch Press, 1996), traducere care este dificil de găsit[1]. 

Introducere

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Gerrit van Honthorst, Croesus and Solon, 1624

2,108 words

Spanish translation here

Carl Schmitt’s two essays on “The Tyranny of Values” (1959 and 1967) are typical of his work. They contain simple and illuminating ideas which are nevertheless quite difficult to piece together because Schmitt presents them only through complex conversations with other thinkers and schools of thought. (more…)

6,572 words

Trans. Simona Draghici, Romanian translation here

Jeanne Argent, Alice Through the Looking Glass

Editor’s Note:

The following text, which was written in 1967, is one of two essays Carl Schmitt published under the title “The Tyranny of Values.” Both were reprinted in Carl Schmitt, Die Tyrannei der Werte (Hamburg: Lutherisches Verlagshaus, 1979). The translation is from Carl Schmitt, The Tyranny of Values, ed. and trans. Simona Draghici (Washington, D.C.: Plutarch Press, 1996), which is out of print and very hard to find. If anyone knows the translator, please put me in contact.

(more…)

5,218 words

The Reflections of a Jurist upon the Philosophy of Values Dedicated to Those who Were at Ebrach in 1959

Trans. Simona Draghici

Editor’s Note: (more…)

25:03 / 184 words

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Beginning in August of 1999, I gave a series of eight lectures on “The Pursuit of Happiness: (more…)