Quote of the Week, 2014-10-29
I'm extremely opposed to a country that can run people out of town through denying them goods/services just because the owners of the business are bigoted jagoffs. On most things I'm pretty...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-11-05
US deaths from ebola = 1Annual US deaths from the flu = >3000, as high as 49,000 over the past 40 yearsUS ebola infections = 3 (maybe 4, only 2 transmitted in the states)Annual US flu infections =...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-11-12
Between philosophy and pure mathematics there is a certain affinity, in the fact that both are general and a priori. Neither of them asserts propositions which, like those of history and geography,...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-11-19
The world is not what it is. We should put out that silly "but it's human nature!" argument to pasture. At one point, a large percentage of the U.S. population was enslaved. Not long ago, women...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-11-26
In the mental world, the evidence for the universality of causal laws is less complete than in the physical world. Psychology cannot boast of any triumph comparable to gravitational astronomy....
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-12-03
If there exists on any subject a philosophy (that is, a system of rational knowledge based on concepts), then there must also be for this philosophy a system of pure rational concepts, independent of...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-12-10
The notion of duty is in itself already the notion of a constraint of the free elective will by the law; whether this constraint be an external one or be self-constraint. The moral imperative, by its...
View ArticleTo C or not to C
Probably the hardest decision to make as a teacher is when to pass a student that is just on cusp of passing, but is not quite there. I just had such a student this semester, and ultimately decided not...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-12-17
Now that ethics is a doctrine of virtue (doctrina officiorum virtutis) follows from the definition of virtue given above compared with the obligation, the peculiarity of which has just been shown....
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-12-24
To virtue = + a is opposed as its logical contradictory (contradictorie oppositum) the negative lack of virtue (moral weakness) = 0; but vice = - a is its contrary (contrarie s. realiter oppositum);...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2014-12-31
An end is an object of the free elective will, the idea of which determines this will to an action by which the object is produced. Accordingly every action has its end, and as no one can have an end...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2015-01-07
Here, therefore, we treat not of ends which man actually makes to himself in accordance with the sensible impulses of his nature, but of objects of the free elective will under its own laws- objects...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2015-01-14
We cannot invert these and make on one side our own happiness, and on the other the perfection of others, ends which should be in themselves duties for the same person.For one's own happiness is, no...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2015-01-21
It is likewise a contradiction to make the perfection of another my end, and to regard myself as in duty bound to promote it. For it is just in this that the perfection of another man as a person...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2015-01-28
Consequently, it can be nothing else than the cultivation of one's power (or natural capacity) and also of one's will (moral disposition) to satisfy the requirement of duty in general. The supreme...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2015-02-04
I'm not making light of what happened to Trayvon by any means, but after you read this, count how many people you personally know who has murdered or been murdered via Black on Black. If Zimmerman was...
View ArticleQuote of the Week, 2015-02-11
It is inevitable for human nature that man a should wish and seek for happiness, that is, satisfaction with his condition, with certainty of the continuance of this satisfaction. But for this very...
View ArticleQuote of the week, 2014-02-18
Today I'm quoting from a post on ~"Passage...Messenger...Passenger..."~, a blog by an interesting young writer named Benny Liew.Let's just say..."Every morning we all wake up and make our own...
View ArticleYou can't tell a relativistic rest frame from measurements
So, after a year-and-a-half of no posts, and something like four years since my last post on relativity crankery, here we go again. Below the fold, I'm going to discuss whether seeing a smaller number...
View Article"I thought she was going to stab me"
There was a disagreement at our worksite at the end of the day. People my company hired to clean up some leaves were blowing onto a smallish vacant lot across the street, and the people next to the lot...
View ArticleTen Years (and counting)
Ten years ago today I started this blog. I don't remember if I thought I could change anyone's mind, but I don't think I ever did. At least I had some interesting conversations. I have not posted much...
View ArticleA response on the nature of science, denialism, and global warming
Lately, I have been engaging in discussions on a site called The DiploMad, which is a very right-wing site run by former employee of the US State Department. So, far, I haven't seen it touch much on...
View ArticleHeard on a train
I hate driving. About two years ago, I changed jobs to from working at a Metro East hospital to working for the WashU School of Medicine, which is on the other side of the river from me. Since my day...
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Graph on the effects of the Corona virus spread
I'm working right now on reports tracking this for my employer. What a difference 6 days made.
View ArticleLayer upon layer of wrongness
In my effort to better understand our nations conservatives, I spent some time recently over at The Scratching Post, one of the shrinking number of amateur conservative blogs that don't spit invective...
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