Philosophy
- Feast Of Saint Foster
My Comedist Brethren, This week brings us the feast of Saint Foster. This would be Foster Brooks' 99th birthday. Beginning work as an announcer and news reporter, he began doing stand-up. Steve Allen and Perry Como launched his career, but it was...
- David Brooks: Philosophical Mohel
So David Brooks has been getting a lot of well deserved flack for his latest column in the New York Times proclaiming the end of philosophy (see, e.g. JCasey, Helmut and Hilzoy) David Brooks has discovered social psychology. When making moral judgments,...
- Id, Ego, And Supercalifragilisticexpialidotious
Schadenfreude -- enjoying the suffering of others... Freudenschade -- suffering in the delight of others... Freudundschatze -- A famous psychologist and his sweetie... Freudenschadenfreude -- suffering at others enjoying the suffering of others......
- Horrifying Planet - Zebra: Nature's Ultimate Prey
When it comes to the philosophical problem of evil (the question of how an omnipotent and benevolent God would allow unnecessary suffering to exist), religious believers tend to argue that suffering is a necessary consequence of our having free will:...
- A "peculiarly Modern Preoccupation"...identity...a New Book
Martha C. Nussbaum wrote... Peter Brooks has written a splendid meditation on the search for the self: erudite, illuminating, and eloquent. He shows how this search leads to an obsessive focus on markers of identity and stories of imposture. Rousseau,...
Philosophy
"What Suffering Does" (comment on David Brooks)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/opinion/brooks-what-suffering-does
I applaud David Brooks?s suggestion (?What Suffering Does,? April 8) that suffering sometimes enables us to break through our culture?s common pursuit of hedonic ?happiness? and to see life in terms of depth of experience, instead. This is why many of the most purposeful people I know, those with the least angst and vagueness about their lives, I?ve met in twelve-step groups. They have seen the depths, and discovered the value of life.
Brooks is also right in suggesting that the best lives require us to accept suffering, to be vulnerable to the world. Those who "don?t care," diminish themselves. The traditional teachings that appear to advocate self-sufficiency, probably actually advocate the inner freedom that enables us to embrace more and care about everyone and everything.
?For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you? (Whitman).
- Feast Of Saint Foster
My Comedist Brethren, This week brings us the feast of Saint Foster. This would be Foster Brooks' 99th birthday. Beginning work as an announcer and news reporter, he began doing stand-up. Steve Allen and Perry Como launched his career, but it was...
- David Brooks: Philosophical Mohel
So David Brooks has been getting a lot of well deserved flack for his latest column in the New York Times proclaiming the end of philosophy (see, e.g. JCasey, Helmut and Hilzoy) David Brooks has discovered social psychology. When making moral judgments,...
- Id, Ego, And Supercalifragilisticexpialidotious
Schadenfreude -- enjoying the suffering of others... Freudenschade -- suffering in the delight of others... Freudundschatze -- A famous psychologist and his sweetie... Freudenschadenfreude -- suffering at others enjoying the suffering of others......
- Horrifying Planet - Zebra: Nature's Ultimate Prey
When it comes to the philosophical problem of evil (the question of how an omnipotent and benevolent God would allow unnecessary suffering to exist), religious believers tend to argue that suffering is a necessary consequence of our having free will:...
- A "peculiarly Modern Preoccupation"...identity...a New Book
Martha C. Nussbaum wrote... Peter Brooks has written a splendid meditation on the search for the self: erudite, illuminating, and eloquent. He shows how this search leads to an obsessive focus on markers of identity and stories of imposture. Rousseau,...