Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category
Saturday, February 28th, 2026
Plato’s analogy in Republic 509d-511e can be summarised as follows.
Line segments
A
B
C
D
Realm
Intelligible (νοητος) (509d)
Visible (ορατος) (509d)
Objects
Forms (511c) – considered in their relationship to the Good.
The First Principle of things. (511a, b)
The unassumed.
Forms – NOT considered in their relationship to the Good
Assumptions, mathematical postulates. (510c-511b)
Living beings, plants, artificial things. (510a, e)
Models, drawings ...
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Saturday, February 7th, 2026
Western philosophers – or philosophers working in the Western tradition – whatever their interest in Chinese systems of thought may be, do not draw upon them for insights, or adopt any of their ideas and concepts to augment the standard repertoire. In particular, where Chinese Philosophy is taught, it is ...
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Sunday, January 2nd, 2022
Feng’s own philosophical positions were presented in a series of works beginning with the Xin Lixue (The New Study of Principles) which proposed a reform of the Lixue branch of Neoconfucianism associated with the names of the Song dynasty scholars Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi. (It is for that reason also called the Cheng-Zhu School.) His ...
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Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
The fourth effort
A: All truths are relative
B: Do you mean that all statements of fact are true for some and false for others?
A: Yes, that’s what I mean.
B: So a statement like ‘There is a hippopotamus in this room’ is true for some false for others?
A: ...
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Monday, October 18th, 2021
I was reading and listening to some Steven Pinker articles and podcasts (for Quillette, I believe) talking about his new book on rationality, and one of the throwaway points he makes is that relativism about truth is a bad position. I don’t doubt that, but I’m not so sure that ...
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Thursday, October 14th, 2021
Le bouddhisme a la réputation d’être à la fois une religion et une philosophie : en fait, beaucoup de philosophes pensent que c’est une philosophie admirable. Il y en a cependant d’autres qui pensent que c’est un mélange des pseudo-profondeurs et d’incohérences. Par exemple, les bouddhistes disent que la fin ...
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Thursday, September 30th, 2021
Thus are God the Circle, God the Triangle, and God the Square all One God
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Wednesday, September 8th, 2021
The Buddha-nature (fóxìng – which translates Sanskrit tathAgatagarbha meaning the ‘matrix of the thus gone’ or buddhadhAtu meaning ‘the realm of the enlightened one’) was the subject of the second of Daosheng’s teachings that we will consider. The Buddha-nature was supposed to be that part of a being’s nature which ...
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Tuesday, August 10th, 2021
The doctrines and attitudes and practices that are thought of as typical of the Chan school arose early but gradually after Buddhism had been introduced to China. In particular, the early Chinese Buddhist scholars Sengzhao and Daosheng are considered to have laid the philosophical groundwork for the Chan school. So ...
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Friday, July 9th, 2021
Chacun a le sentiment d’un libre arbitre même si il n’y croit pas. Chacun a le sentiment que c’est possible à faire autrement que ce qu’il fait ; il n’a qu’à choisir autrement que ce qu’il a choisi. Enfin, il a le sentiment que ce qu’il fait est la conséquence d’un ...
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