For those who would like to become more familiar with the classics, or, perhaps, understand more deeply the richness of the classics, you’re in luck! As part of my regular columns at TIC, I’ve covered Hesiod and Homer, and Pseudo-Apollodorus (among others). For Merion West, where I frequently freelance, I provided a five-part exposition on … Continue reading Reflections on the Greek Classics
Philosophy
On the Media Hierarchy
The media is not neutral or unbiased. It never has been. The formation of mass newspapers around the world were tied to political parties to promote respective agendas. The art of writing is itself a form of control and directionality. The great myth of modernity is egalitarianism. That is, metaphysical egalitarianism. A consistent egalitarian—not an … Continue reading On the Media Hierarchy
Lex Talionis and the Principle of Limitation
Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. That passage from Leviticus is often derided as, or pointed to for evidence of, “biblical harshness.” The principle of the passage is not unique to the Bible, however, for the code of legal retaliation is found in all Near Eastern law codes. In comparison to the … Continue reading Lex Talionis and the Principle of Limitation
Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” Part III
In finishing the last chapters of Machiavelli’s most famous work, The Prince, we will tie up loose ends and come to an understanding of what Machiavelli was saying in his work and what Machiavelli was not saying in his work. To review, up to this point Machiavelli’s Prince is about “practical advice” on new princes who have risen … Continue reading Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” Part III
Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” Part II
As we continue examining Machiavelli’s The Prince, we turn to Chapters 10-19 which contains his most famous phrase of it is better to be feared than loved. Well, Machiavelli didn’t exactly say those specific words in that order, but his recommendations to the Prince is that it is better to command fear than to be loved … Continue reading Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” Part II
Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” Part I
Niccolò Machiavelli is a pivotal transitional figure in the history of Western philosophy and political thought. His most famous work is The Prince, but his more important work in the Discourses on Livy. Both are meant to be read together and together The Prince and Discourses are a full treatise on Machiavelli’s theory of the State. The Prince, however, has had a … Continue reading Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” Part I
Simone de Beauvoir: “The Woman Destroyed”
The third story of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Woman Destroyed, aptly titled “The Woman Destroyed,” puts to poetic-diary story the essence of Beauvoir’s existential and Marxian feminism. Through the course of the entries we learn that the narrator, Monique, is trapped madly in love with a bourgeois careerist man – “the serious man” – Maurice. Their relationship, if … Continue reading Simone de Beauvoir: “The Woman Destroyed”
Beauvoir: “The Second Sex” (The Woman Destroyed)
“The word ‘love’ has not at all the same meaning for both sexes, and this is a source of the grave misunderstandings that separate them. Byron rightly said that love is merely an occupation in the life of the man, while it is life itself for the woman.” This are the opening sentences to Beauvoir’s … Continue reading Beauvoir: “The Second Sex” (The Woman Destroyed)
Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex (Introduction)
Simone de Beauvoir stands alongside Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus as the trinity of French existentialist writers that most people will encounter in their dealings with modern 20th century existentialism after Heidegger. Influenced by philosophers like Augustine, Hegel, Marx, and Heidegger, the French existentialists took their intellectual forebears and turned them in new directions. Simone … Continue reading Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex (Introduction)
Shulamith Firestone’s “Dialectic of Sex”
Shulamith Firestone is one of the most important, if not the most important, feminist philosopher of the 20th century. Though little known to most, she is required reading in most gender studies and women’s studies courses. Her most famous work was published when she was 25 years old: The Dialectic of Sex. In her work she synthesizes … Continue reading Shulamith Firestone’s “Dialectic of Sex”
