Phi Fic

On the Consolation, written as he awaited execution in 524 CE. Do bad things really happen to good people? Boethius, surprisingly, says no, for Stoic (anything that can be taken away can't be of central importance; you can't lose your virtue in this way), Aristotelian (all things tend toward the good, and the best thing for a person is achieving his or her innate potential, which is to be virtuous), and Christian (God's unknowable plan means that even the stuff that seems bad really isn't) reasons.

Continuing on Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in 20th Century America (1998). We talk more about Rorty's description of the conflict between the "reformist left" and the "cultural left." Do political-comedy shows serve a a positive political purpose? Can an enlightened political viewpoint really be a mass movement at all? Is it better to pursue specific political campaigns or be part of a "movement?" Can Rorty's diagnosis cure Seth's malaise? End song: "Wake Up, Sleepyhead," by Jill Sobule, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #11.

On Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in 20th Century America (1998). What makes for efficacious progressivism? Rorty argues that reformism went out of fashion in the '60s in favor of a "cultural left" that merely critiques and spectates, leaving a void that a right-wing demagogue could exploit to sweep in, claiming to be a champion of regular working people. Sound familiar?

Within The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky penned a passage, considered one of the best known in modern literature: "The Grand Inquisitor." The character Ivan uses this tale to question the existence of God to his younger brother Alyosha, a monk. In the older brother's story, Christ returns to earth during the Inquisition, is arrested and sentenced to death by burning, and then is confronted by the Grand Inquisitor in his cell.

Oh, we shall persuade them that they will only become free when they renounce their freedom to us and submit to us.

Join us as we try to deconstruct this struggle between religion and faith as it explodes in this clash between the Inquisitor and Christ. Mary doesn't believe that the Inquisitor ever planned to burn Christ but can't resist the opportunity to criticize his treatment of humanity, Laura bemoans living in a world of such destruction with a theoretical God of mercy. Cezary and Daniel discuss the existential ramifications of the radical freedom the Inquisitor slams Christ for granting to humanity, highlighted by Nathan echoing the Inquisitor that Christ abandoned us and didn't return for 15 centuries—that humanity needs “earth bread," not “cloud bread."

We also discuss John Gielgud’s riveting 1975 performance as the Grand Inquisitor, which we highly recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om6HcUUa8DI

 The full text is also available online:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8578/8578-h/8578-h.htm  

Although if you've never read The Brothers Karamazov, we highly recommend reading the entire book.

Thanks to Christopher Nolen for the music.

Disclaimer: This is one of the first discussions we had, so please excuse the wonky sound quality here and there. But it's an important episode about freedom, faith, and the church. So, please partake and enjoy! And Happy New Year to everyone!

If you have thoughts, recommendations, or questions that you want to send our way, please do via [email protected].

Hear more Phi Fic.

Continuing our liberal bubble-bursting exercise, the core foursome address more directly the question of how philosophy is supposed to shape one's political views and actions. On a non-partisan "public good" and rhetorical strategies in the face of an apathetic and/or ignorant public. End song: "Better Days" from The Getaway Drivers' Bellatopia; check out Mark's interview with singer/songwriter Bob Manor on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 11.

How does studying philosophy help you to make sense of the political landscape? Wes, Mark, Dylan, and Seth play pundit and reflect on political rhetoric, elitism, and much more. There is no text for this episode! Freedom!

On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part II: "Mirroring."

Is a "theory of knowledge" possible? Rorty thinks that any such account will be a fruitless search for foundations. Knowledge is really just a matter of social agreement, and beliefs must be justified from other beliefs, not from any alleged relationship to reality.

End song: "The Ghosts Are Alright" from The Bye-Bye Blackbirds (Houses and Homes, 2008), as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #32.

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On "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" (1956).

Is knowledge based on a "foundation," as Descartes, Locke, et al. thought? Sellars says no: The allegedly basic elements upon which knowledge would be built either have to be propositions, in which case they involve a lot of prior knowledge involved in language use and so aren't really basic, or they're "raw feels," in which case they can't actually serve as reasons for anything; reasons have to be propositional. With guest Lawrence Dallman.

End song: "Senses on Fire" by Mercury Rev. Check out the interview with singer Jonathan Donahue in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 14.

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On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part I: "Our Glassy Essence."

"The mind" seems to be an unavoidable part of our basic conceptual vocabulary, but Rorty thinks not, and he wants to use the history of philosophy as a kind of therapy to show that many of our seemingly insoluble problems like the relation between mind and body are a result philosophical mistakes by Descartes, Locke, and Kant. With guest Stephen Metcalf of Slate's Culture Gabfest podcast.

End song: "Wall of Nothingness" from Sky Cries Mary from This Timeless Turning (1994). Listen to Mark's interview with the band's frontman, Roderick Romero, in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 9.

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