USUPhilosophy

All philosopher majors know the drill – you tell someone your major and immediately field “what are you going to do with that?” questions.  Well, tonight I encountered that bias in an unexpected place.  I was playing the game of Life with my daughters.  We were using a very old board, an original one actually, that was handed down from my mother-in-law.  If you win the game, you retire to millionaire’s estate.  If you lose.  Well, see how the board describes the losing bankruptcy option.  (By the way, my daughter beat me badly, despite her choosing not to go to college.  And many laughs were had at my expense by the 7 and 5 year olds at my fate.  Overall, a pretty serious fail if the game of Life was to be a vehicle for me teaching them my educational values.)

Here is a really interesting lecture by philosopher Daniel Dennett on the tools we use that helps us think thought problems. Vintage Dennett: interesting claims, not always clear arguments, but fascinating insights along the way.

The USU Catholic Newman Center is sponsoring its annual Blessed John Henry Newman Lecture.  This year Dr. Michael Thomas (USU Economics professor) will present a talk titled “Theology and Economics: Unity or Division”.

Held on the Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman — Wednesday October 9, 4:30pm in AGRS 140

This Thursday (tomorrow), 5:30, Main 203:

Justin Solum – “Was David Hume Afraid of Ghosts?”
Madison Moss – “Categorical Randomness”
Alex Tarbet – “Jazz Underground: Ellison’s Invisible Man”
Ben Harman – “Teleological Beard Growing”

All are welcome! Should be fun.

Many of you may find this book review of interest. Moses Maimonides was a medieval philosopher, arguably the most important in Judaism. He wrote a difficult work called The Guide for the Perplexed. The reviewer describes what makes this work so difficult:

Maimonides claims he will allow truth to be glimpsed by his readers, only to have that truth concealed once again. He will address metaphysical secrets not “completely known to anyone among us,” but will follow the methods of the rabbinic Sages who conveyed truths through riddles and parables. Maimonides promises he has chosen his words “with great exactness,” and that even statements which appear out of place have been put there intentionally. He warns that he has scattered indications of his teachings about metaphysics throughout the book, and hence that to understand them, the reader will have to find these hints and connect them. He tells his readers to be prepared for contradictions, some of which he has concealed so that the vulgar will not be aware of them. If this is not your idea of a pleasant reading experience, consider the payoff: the virtuous reader who follows Maimonides’ guidance is promised liberation from perplexity, perfection, and tranquility.

Apparently this new book by Josef Stern argues that Maimonides is not trying to transmit a secret message as much as he is trying to get his readers to engage in reflective practices that will change how they live:

The Guide, Stern suggests, aims to assist his philosophical readers in coming to terms with their embodied state; it introduces parables as the medium best suited to embodied philosophical expression and communication; and it introduces an alternative model of perfection to that of disembodied intellectual perfection, a model which Stern suggests is best understood as close kin to the Pyrrhonist path to ataraxia.

Worth a look.