2
POPSWe is all on drugs So,it wasn't just E.A.Poe and Lewis Carol.All the great minds dabbled.It doesn't mean your brain turns to mush.That's what happens if you listen to the prohibitionist nonsense spouted by the Harperites.Morality has no place when dealing with the lives of others.
2
POPSCompassion -or- Philosophy of windows into the soul "Besides, the effectual truth of enlightened self-interest and the invocation of rights in service of that interest was hateful competition among men, not genuine co-operation. Ultimately commerce and all other such forms of competition serve the passion of amour-propre or vanity, which craves superiority over our fellows or inequality for its own sake. Rousseau thus presents the emergent liberal commercial society in which Montesquieu, Hume, and Smith invested such hopes as a lurid nightmare of strife, exploitation, and cruelty." "Commerce makes men more alike while also multiplying inequalities among them. Montesquieu seized on the first of these facts to welcome commerce as a new dawn: whereas difference bred narrowness and hostility, sameness brought greater understanding. Rousseau, by contrast, stressed the second of these elements, presenting commerce as driving men apart even as it supposedly brought them together."
3
POPSPlato -- Ebooks And Resource Links This post has over 50 books on Plato, as well as almost 50 external related links that focus on Plato. The post to get to these links is http://bookyards.blogspot.com/2008/07/plato-ebooks-and-resource-links.html
2
POPSCulture of Vice - Robert Reilly "Entrenched moral aberrations then impel people to rationalize vice not only to themselves but to others as well. Thus rationalizations become an engine for revolutionary change that will affect society as a whole. "
5
POPSAlexander The Great he began to organize the territory into a realm such as he envisioned. His early death brought an end to his plans. Alexander was born in Pella, capital of Macedonia. His father was Philip II of Macedon, who had conquered Greece; his mother was Olympias, a princess from Epirus. Aristotle was Alexander's tutor, and the literature of Greece was his inspiration. The handsome youth took Achilles of Homer's Iliad, a reputed ancestor, as his hero. Alexander's teachers in military science were his father's generals. When he was only 16, he commanded forces in military actions against hill tribes.
3
POPSAncient Greek Music Theory - Modes The Greeks had developed a complex system of relating particular emotional and spiritual characteristics to certain modes (scales). The names for the various modes derived from the names of Greek tribes and peoples, the temperament and emotions of which were said to be characterized by the unique sound of each mode, which included the Ancient Greek subgroups (Ionians, Dorians, Aeolians), one small region in central Greece (Locris), and certain neighboring (non-Greek) peoples from Asia Minor (Lydia, Phrygia). Thus, Dorian modes were "harsh", Phrygian modes "sensual", and so forth.
35
POPS25 Greatest Science Books of All Time The Origin of Species (1859) Darwin's masterwork is, undeniably, The Origin of Species , in which he introduced his theory of evolution by natural selection. Prior to its publication, the prevailing view was that each species had existed in its current form since the moment of divine creation and that humans were a privileged form of life, above and apart from nature. Darwin's theory knocked us from that pedestal. Wary of a religious backlash, he kept his ideas secret for almost two decades while bolstering them with additional observations and experiments. The result is an avalanche of detail—there seems to be no species he did not contemplate—thankfully delivered in accessible, conversational prose. A century and a half later, Darwin's paean to evolution still begs to be heard: "There is grandeur in this view of life," he wrote, that "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."
2
POPSEthical Philosophy Quiz When I was filling out the answers, I hated it and was convinced that due to stupid semantic BS and limited options, my results would be terrible and end up matching me with someone I hate, or something. So basically, my same beef as with ALL multiple choice quizzes. I was pleasantly surprised, though- I matched highest with my two favorites (Epicurious and John Stuart Mill), and Sartre came in 4th. This is more than enough to satisfy me :)
6
POPSThe Matrix: philosophy Nothing exceptional... but interesting for non-philosophers.. to understand how deep the Matrix may go (a way farther then expected by the authors...)
5
POPSThe Enlightenment and dogmatism of the mediaeval and the awakening of modernity. Medieval philosophy combined Christian beliefs with the ideas of Plato and Aristotle. In the medieval world philosophers respected their predecessors and accepted their methods. If a new discovery about nature contradicted one of Aristotle's principles, for example, it would probably have been assumed that it was the discovery that was in error. Enlightenment thinkers were not content to accept appeals to Aristotle's authority. It could be seen that using experimental methods science was progressing and increasing our understanding of nature, which could not have been done without rejecting some of Aristotle's assumptions. It was not only Aristotle that was being questioned, using reason and logic philosophers criticised political and religious ideas. What rational answer is there for the justification of monarchy or that you should choose one type of religion over another?
10
POPSThe Murky Politics of Mind-Body " Dualism tends to win the day: The mind and the body, while linked, are separate " i wonder what would happen in a world (or nation) where unity win the day, other then dualism ? :)
4
POPSThe Detachable Penis Also read about Two-Headed Penises, Four-Headed Penises and Double Vaginas http://news.softpedia.com/news/Two-Headed-Penises-Four-Headed-Penises-and-Double-Vaginas-43001.shtml
8
POPSMusic for the Brain Some people say that art and music are an impractical luxury for schools, given the hyper competitive demands of "globalization" that require a strong background in science and math. Laying aside the wrong-headed workforce-training assumptions behind such an instrumentalist educational philosophy, another way of looking at it is: given the "new economic" reality -- where workers won't have long-term jobs or careers but multiple jobs and careers -- the advantage goes to those with nimble minds and creative intelligence; not the proficient test-takers our education factories are producing. Improving the achievement gap? Raising test scores? Preventing kids from dropping out? We need more music education, not less. The math is simple.
26
POPSDepression can be Good for You There is serious depression that needs help. There are poverty, abuse, bad circumstance that need addressing. But for most of us, a bit of depression, the article suggests, is a catalyst for refelction, change and growth