• GILBERT RYLE'S REVIEW OF HEIDEGGER'S SEIN UND ZEIT
    Edmund HusserlMartin HeideggerGilbert Ryle GILBERT RYLE'S REVIEW OF HEIDEGGER'S SEIN UND ZEITIn a 1929 article printed in the journal Mind, Gilbert Ryle wrote a review of Martin Heidegger’s book Sein und Zeit (Being and Time).  Although Ryle writes that Heidegger’s book is “a very difficult and important work, which marks a big advance in the application of the ‘Phenomenological...
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  • ROUSSEAU'S PARADOX: WE ARE BORN FREE IN CHAINS
    Jean-Jacques Rousseau Last week I invited a guest to write a blog on Rousseau's The Social Contract. I asked the guest to discuss Rousseau's famous paradox that we are both born free and born in chains. The question for my guest: "How is this possible?" The name of my guest is A.I. Perplexity.  Here is Perplexity's answer: The opening line of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The Social...
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  • MENO'S PARADOX AND THE THEORY OF RECOLLECTION
    Plato Thinking About the AfterlifePlato's Meno: Paradox and Solution In the dialogue Meno, Plato writes that after repeated failures to provide Socrates with an adequate definition of virtue, the character Meno complains that Socrates may not be able to inquire about virtue at all.  If we know what virtue is, then there is no need to inquire about it.  If we don’t know what it is,...
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  • WHY LAW FIRMS SHOULD SUE THE GOVERNMENT WHEN AN EXECUTIVE ORDER VIOLATES THE CONSTITUTION
     Law firms should sue but not settle with the government when an Executive Order violates the ConstitutionAdam Unikowsky On March 25, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Addressing Risks from Jenner & Block. ”  Among other things, the Executive Order “limit[s] official access from Federal Government buildings to employees of Jenner,” “limit[s] Government...
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  • CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, STATE INTERVENTION, MARRIAGE, CUSTODY AND DIVORCE
    Hot off the press and hoping that the book will not be "stillborn." You can help.  Buy an eBook or paperback copy now at Amazon.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2ZWRDSW By the end of the 20th century there had been a veritable deluge of philosophical essays and books about children’s rights, adultery, family violence, the ethics of divorce, the limits of state intervention in the family,...
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  • LEVIATHAN: THOMAS HOBBES ON THE ORIGIN OF CIVIL SOCIETY
    THOMAS HOBBES 1588 - 1679LEVIATHAN: THOMAS HOBBES ON THE ORIGIN OF CIVIL SOCIETY from Understanding Thomas Hobbes: The Smart Student's Guide to LeviathanWhenever you see or hear the word 'origin' you must be careful not to confuse it with the word 'meaning'.  A theory about the origin of civil society is not the same as a theory about the meaning of 'civil society'.  Origin...
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  • EUTHYPHRO: EXAMPLES OF SOCRATIC METHOD, Part 4
    From  Understanding Plato: The Smart Student's Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and the Republic EUTHYPHRO: EXAMPLES OF SOCRATIC METHODPart 4 Piety is not a Skill After a bit of floundering about, Euthyphro finally hits on another, final definition of piety (D4).  It is “some sort of knowledge of sacrificing and praying” (14c).  The pious person is one who knows how to...
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  • EUTHYPHRO: AN EXAMPLE OF SOCRATIC METHOD, Part 3
    From  Understanding Plato: The Smart Student's Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and the RepublicEUTHYPHRO: EXAMPLES OF SOCRATIC METHODPart 3Concurrence of the Gods Euthyphro now makes a third attempt (D3) to provide a definition.  “I’d say that the pious is what all the gods love, and its opposite, what all the gods hate, is the impious” (9e).  Socrates responds by asking a...
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  • EUTHYPHRO: EXAMPLES OF SOCRATIC METHOD, Part 2
     From Understanding Plato: The Smart Student's Guide to the Socratic Dialogues and the Republic Part 2 Quarreling Deities Socrates repeats his request:  “What are the pious and the impious?”  Euthyphro responds by telling Socrates that "what's loved by the gods is pious, and what's not loved by the gods is impious" (7a).  Let's call this new definition D2. Socrates...
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  • EUTHYPHRO: EXAMPLES OF SOCRATIC METHOD, Part 1
    Part 1 Examples are not Definitions Plato sets the scene of Euthyphro outside the courthouse in Athens.   Socrates is there to hear an indictment brought against him by a young man named Meletus.  Upon his arrival, Socrates is surprised to run into a prophet[1] he knows named Euthyphro. Euthyphro tells Socrates that he is there to bring a prosecution against his own father...
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