Author: Kleiner

Associate Vice Provost and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Utah State University. I teach across the curriculum, but am most interested in continental philosophy, ancient and medieval philosophy as well as Catholic thought, all of which might be summed up as an interest in the ressourcement tradition (returning in order to make progress). I also enjoy spending time thinking about liberal education and its ends.

Another try – must reads

I have had another student ask “What should I read?”.  I posted on this before, but the stream quickly devolved (or evolved, depending on how you want to look at it) into what people “like”.  I am too sensitive about such things, but I was actually scandalized by some of the lists.  Oh well.  Point here is that what my students are asking for is a list of western philosophers one should read in order to be well read in the western tradition.  So this post is not asking for what you like, or what speaks to you, or even what you find interesting.  It is asking, “what do I need to read in order to be conversant in the western philosophical tradition?”  I will reframe the question a bit as well.  My student asked me, what should I read this summer?So let’s assume this:  You have 3 months to live.  On your “bucket list” was becoming well read in the western philosophical tradition.  What books do you read in those 3 months?The list will be more narrow than before.  “Plato” is too broad, what dialogue would you read?  And while I hope there are primary texts, I think it is fair game to put secondary sources (for instance, a good book on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason since trying to read the Critique would occupy the entire 3 months).

A short list of philosophers to read

A student who is graduating soon was talking with me today about what to read on his own once he is out of school. It got us to talking about what philosophers are “must read” philosophers. I thought it might be a fun little posting, at least for those that are into “lists”. It is March Madness, so it is the time of year for deciding best teams and arguing about snubs. So, let’s cap it at 8 (arbitrary, but long enough to cause some debate between lists but not so long that you can easily compose your list). Who are the 8 most important philosophers (I am thinking Western)? Post your list. You might even include justifications, and perhaps a second list of “bubble philosophers” (ones who were close to being on the list but did not quite make the cut).

UPDATE: Here’s another list of the top ten.

Are we alone?

This from Kleiner’s blog:

An article that talks about the “raised hopes” that we may not be unique in the universe:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23212185/

I am always confused by people who “hope” that we find out that we are not unique.  If there is extra-terrestrial intelligent life, that would be an extraordinary thing to be sure.  But why “hope” for something like this?  One might be curious, but “hopeful”?

Walker Percy addresses this in his brilliant little book “Lost in the Cosmos.”  Percy suggests that Sagan and others are so hell-bent on finding intelligent life elsewhere (or that apes have language here) because they are desperate to affirm science’s apparent judgment that we are not unique in the cosmos (that we really are just an accidental pile of cosmic dust).  But why be so bent on proving you are not unique?  

The real trouble, for Percy, is that they spend so much time looking out into the universe that they do not know themselves – and they manage to ignore how singularly amazing the event of human language is.   

Sagan, like every other ET searcher, is in need of connection – community.  He is alienated (lost in the cosmos).  But is the answer as much “in here” as it is “out there”?  Will we really know ourselves and secure “hope” by the finding of other allegedly random bits of matter organized in a way similar to us? 

 

Charity as a duty?

I posted some reflections on the relation between charity and duty on my blog.  Since the post stems from Pope B16’s Lenten address, I put it on my blog instead of the USU Philosophy page.  But there are philosophical connections (to Singer and to postmodern ethics).  If you are interested, click over to my blog and share your thoughts.  http://web.mac.com/harrisonkleiner/ProfKleiner/Blog/Blog.html