Philosoffee

Hello all, and thank you for joining us again at Philosoffee! Today's episode is a preliminary discussion between Commedore and myself regarding the relationship between comedy, comedians, and the concept of honesty. The follow up essay/recording will be coming out next weekend. You'll have to forgive the length; this recording went a bit longer than some others will. We hope you enjoy!

The following is a Content Contributor Essay, by my friend Andrew Eick. It is part of our theme of selfhood. I hope you enjoy! The problem of "Self" is a philosophical quandary which I find more a nuisance than anything else. It is an elusive game of shadows we play with our own psyche. Largely, the notion of self has to do with our conscious state, although as someone influenced by Jung, I have difficult ignoring the unconscious cultural gravity wells that constantly impress upon this notion of who am I ? I attribute most of my lack of interest in the notion of the self in what I view as my own lack of sense of self. I genuinely do not hold a strong sense of who I am as a person independent of my lived social experience. I'm too aware of all the various and ubiquitous cultural milieu which has influenced me that I've never seen or had a sense of "me" outside a mask I've selected to represent a state,or a fraction of some vague notion that gives me a d...

Hello all! Thanks for coming back to Philosoffee. I have some quick announcements I'd like to make about upcoming posts and themes. First of all, there is a new post on the more-or-less neglected "The Coffee Part" section. In truth, I was a little hesitant to even have a coffee review section, as I thought that some might find the attempt at doing coffee descriptions and coffee shop reviews to be snobby. However, I got to thinking about it, and concluded that I find it odd when people write off a desire to engage in things like that as "snobby" without labeling the entirety of the rest of attempts by human beings to like things as being equally snobby. While there are certainly more-or-less pretentious ways of communicating one's interests, I have come to think of dismissing some things as inherently "snobby" as being a rather incoherent objection. So, to hell with it, there's a coffee review over here . Next, I'd like to let ever...

I have been concerned for a very long time with questions regarding  epistemology , or the study of knowledge. How can we be certain of anything? What do we really know? Everything we think, from our most cherished beliefs to our most mundane assumptions, seems to be subject to at least  some  level of rational doubt. How can we know when we've thought enough? How can we know when we are certain, versus when we are merely ignorant or As of now, I still do now know the answer to any of those questions, which I suppose is fitting. But one uncomfortable conclusion which I  have  reached is that the very nature of inquiring, or trying to figure out what we know or don't know, is itself something that is necessarily stunted, and involves the need to ignore most blind-spots at any given moment. At least part of the reason for this consistent and overwhelming blind spot is time. All inquiries are made in time, and all answers are found in time. The nature of our ...

Hello! Here you can find the audio recording of my reading of "Two Clinics: Or, The Future of American Philosophy" My apologies for the delayed upload; I lost power yesterday, and I'm still figuring out how to make these videos!

(Note: I am still working on the audio recording for this essay. I believe I'll have it done later today, and I'll post it this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I wanted to at least get the essay up for those who'd rather read than listen. Thank you! ) The Problem I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that quite a few people are of the opinion that philosophy is a privileged waste of time. An activity for "soft" people without the hard-nosed common sense to tackle the world, or a concern only for those who can afford to spend time thinking about things that have no impact on their lives. Despite all its claims that its concerns are of deep human relevance, there is an air of stale remoteness to much of philosophy that makes people believe it is something that only those who do not have anything of "real importance" (or any "real work") can indulge in. To an extent, I can sympathize with this view. There are many dea...

“The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it. The slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur. Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measure of government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.” So states Henry David Thoreau in his seminal essay “Civil Disobedience”. Continuing he writes, “How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, and enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that he is aggrieved? If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing that you are cheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you his due; but take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see that you are never cheated again.” A clarion call...

Hello again from Philosoffee. This is the audio recording to go along with the launch of the site. Again, I am technologically far from what one might call "competent", so this is also partly an experiment to see if I can do the apparently simple task of posting an audio recording. Please note that this recording was done some time ago, and at that time the website's name was going to be the much different (and far more asinine, I suppose) "De Omnibus Dubitandum Est", (from Soren Kierkegaard's book of the same name, implying that our goal is to engage in doubting, skeptical analysis). Surely, our goal hasn't changed that much, but gods-be-praised I caved in and changed the name. So, when you hear us mention "Dubitandum", scratch it out and think "Philosoffee". In other news, we will soon be featuring our first Essay! The essay comes from my friend, Andrew Eick, who is a chief contributor to this endeavor. It is an analysis of ...

Thank you for joining us here at Philosoffee. I figured it would be a good idea for the first post to lay out some of the core ideas of this website, and the project beyond it. The guiding principle of this site is simply summed up by the following three sentences: Philosophy is fun.  Philosophy has practical consequences and benefits. Philosophy should be something that helps.  Philosophy is fun There is a certain pleasure to intellectual exercise. It is fun to parse out an argument and offer a rebuttal. It is fun to discuss lofty and abstract ideas. It is equally fun to critically discuss and examine more practical daily concerns or goals. In short, intellectual stimulation is its own reward, to a certain extent. One of the core principles of Philosoffee is the fun of the argument. This isn't to say that ideas, including ideas we'll be discussing here, don't have real consequences and importance. Rather, it is simply to say that underlying this project ther...