Hegel on Stoicism (Part One)
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Discussing the section on Stoicism in Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit," which is under "Freedom of ...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Wrap Up)
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Concluding our treatment of Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (1984). This is our eighth discussion o...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Part Four)
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What? Part Four? Yes, we're jumping back into a 1984 paper that we began a couple of years ago in li...
H.A. Prichard on Ethics (Part One)
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On "Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?" (1912). Prichard claims that we feel certain actions t...
Parfit on Game Theory (Part One)
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Derek Parfit's "Prudence, Morality, and the Prisoner's Dilemma" (1978). What is a "prisoner's dil...
Spinoza on Emotions (Part One)
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Spinoza's Ethics, Third Part, "Concerning the Origin and Nature of the Emotions." We want to see...
Scheler on Personhood (Part Three)
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On "Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values" (1916), Ch. 6 "Formalism and Person," sec. ...
Edith Stein on Self (Part One)
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss "On the Problem of Empathy," ch. 4 "Empathy as the Comprehension of Mental Persons," star...
Scheler on Personhood (Part One)
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Ch. 6 "Formalism and Person," in Max Scheler's most famous work, Formalism in Ethics and Non-Form...
Schopenhauer on Ethics (Part One)
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On The Basis of Morality (1840), Part III: "The Founding of Ethics," Ch. 5: "Statement and Proof of...
Husserl on Perceiving Minds
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Edmund Husserl’s Ideas, Vol. 2 (1928), Section 3, “The Constitution of the Spiritual World,...
Guattari on Fascism (Part One)
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Wes read through and discuss the beginning of Felix Guattari's "Everybody Wants to Be a Fas...
Marx on Stirner (Part One)
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Wes read through and discuss Karl Marx's "The German Ideology" (1846), delving deep into th...
Husserl on Essences (Part One)
29 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Wes read through and discuss Edmund Husserl's Ideas (1913), ch. 1, "Matter of Fact and Ess...
Mill on Induction (Part One)
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're discussing John Stuart Mill's A System of Logic (1843), specifically from Book III, "Of Induct...
Sartre on Nothingness (Part Two)
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We continue reading Part One of Being and Nothingness, with ch. 2, "Negations." We get some context ...
Sartre on Nothingness (Part One)
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We skip the introduction of Being and Nothingness (1943) and start with Part One, "The Problem of No...
F.H. Bradley's "Appearance and Reality" (Part Two)
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We begin Bradley's argument for idealism: The world as we perceive it is appearance, not reality. In...
F.H. Bradley's "Appearance and Reality" (Part One)
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bradley was a prominent British Hegelian, best known now for being the springboard for Bertrand Russ...
Heidegger on Technology (Part Two)
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We move from the discussion of the four types of causes, to "disclosure," to an environmental critiq...
Heidegger on Technology (Part One)
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is technology, REALLY? People think of it as neutral, as something that can be used for good or...
William James on Asceticism and Saints (Part One)
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Varieties of Religious Experience," the conclusion of lecture 15. Why do some saintly types ...
Plotinus on The Intelligence (Part Two)
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Intelligence, The Ideas, and Being," starting on section 6. What is "The Intelligence" anywa...
Plotinus on The Intelligence (Part One)
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Intelligence, The Ideas, and Being" from the Enneads (270 C.E.), about the various elements...
Merleau-Ponty on the Body (Part One)
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We begin a long series on Maurice Merleau Ponty's "Phenomenology of Perception" (1945), focusing on ...
Levinas on Buber (Part Two)
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on "Martin Buber and the Theory of Knowledge," with the "Experience and Meeting" section,...
Levinas on Buber (Part One)
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read the first pages of Emmanuel Levinas' 1958 article, "Martin Buber and the Theory of Knowledge...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Part Two)
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the fact-value distinction, both with regard to ethics but also epistemology, i.e. how th...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Part One)
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading a 1984 essay by Mark's U. of Michigan undergrad advisor, included among the most cited...
Descartes' "Passions of the Soul" (Part Two)
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on this text about the mechanics of how mind and body work together. Is this schematicall...
Descartes' "Passions of the Soul" (Part One)
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading the final text by René Descartes, published in 1649, about how mind and body relate t...
Isaiah Berlin on Liberty (Part Two)
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on "Two Concepts of Liberty" (1969), we finish up the negative conception ("freedom from"...
Isaiah Berlin on Liberty (Part One)
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading through the beginning of "Two Concepts of Liberty" (1969). What are the various ways w...
Aristotle Against Platonic Forms (Part Two)
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on Aristotle's Metaphysics, book 1, ch. 9. Why does Aristotle insist that Forms have to b...
Aristotle Against Platonic Forms (Part One)
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aristotle offers a critique of Plato's theory of forms at a few points in his Metaphysics, and in th...
Al-Kindi on Dispelling Sorrows (Part Two)
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on Yaqub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi's Islamic, Stoic-flavored ethical treatise. What habits shoul...
Al-Kindi on Dispelling Sorrows (Part One)
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading a 9th century Arabic philosopher (from what's now Iraq), in fact the "father of Arab p...
Hegel on Jesus and Kant (Part Two)
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on "The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate," ch. 2: "The Moral Teaching of Jesus: The Se...
Hegel on Jesus and Kant (Part One)
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading an early Hegel essay, "The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate," ch. 2: "The Moral Tea...
Kierkegaard on Irony (Part Two)
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We complete our treatment of Soren Kierkegaard's On the Concept of Irony (1841), "Irony as a Control...
Kierkegaard on Irony (Part One)
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read the conclusion to Soren Kierkegaard's On the Concept of Irony (1841), "Irony as a Controlled...
Hume on Passions (Part Two)
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Book II of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Part I, "Pride and Humility," sections 3 and 4. Pri...
Hume on Passions (Part One)
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Book II of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), this time reading sections 1 and 2 in Part I, "Prid...
Forms in Plato's "Republic" (Part Two)
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We complete Plato's "divided line" schema at the end of Book VI of the Republic (and are going to ho...
Forms in Plato's "Republic" (Part One)
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Toward the end of Book VI and into Book VII of the Republic, Plato gives a series of metaphors for t...
Grice's "Logic and Conversation" (Part Two)
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on the 1975 paper, we describe how the various maxims of Grice's conversational "Cooperat...
Grice's "Logic and Conversation" (Part One)
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read through Paul Grice's 1975 ordinary language philosophy paper. What are the assumptions behin...
Epictetus' Discourses (Part Two)
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read through book one, chapter two. How can a person on every occasion maintain his proper charac...
Epictetus' Discourses (Part One)
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Ch. 1 of this classic of ancient Stoicism, a series of informal lectures written down by Epictetu...
Reason in Hobbes' "Leviathan" (Part Two)
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on ch. 5 in Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" (1651). We go through seven ways of producing absu...
Reason in Hobbes' "Leviathan" (Part One)
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reading ch. 5 in Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" (1651) to see how a materialist empiricist with a highly...
Plato's "Cratylus" on Language
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the latter portion of Plato's middle-period dialogue, where Plato argues to Cratylus that even if...
Zhuangzi, Ch. 19
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading the "Fathoming Life" chapter of this seminal Daoist philosopher, using the Ziporyn tra...
Hegel on Spinoza (Part Two)
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're continuing reading through the entry on Spinoza from Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philos...
Hegel on Spinoza (Part One)
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read through the Spinoza entry in Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy (1830). Does this...
Emerson's Oversoul (Part Two)
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're continuing to go through Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay "The Over-Soul." What is this godhoo...
Emerson's Oversoul (Part One)
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are we underlyingly all really a single, unified organism? Or do we just have a lot in common? We be...
Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes - A Quick Intro
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reading through difficult philosophy texts line-by-line to try to figure out what’s really being s...