Looking for just one book about Western Philosophy? If you are, I recommend that you check out Steven Cahn’s “Classics of Western Philosophy”. Whether you go to the library to borrow an old copy or get your hand on the latest (7th) edition you can will be hard-pressed to find an anthology that is more readable as well as affordable. In fact this book is becoming the text to use so much so that as Dr Vern Lindquist, an active reviewer/commenter in Amazon, said, “Classics” is itself becoming a classic.

Of course this not a book to read in one sitting with such a very broad range of philosophers and their representative ideas. The latest edition “presents complete texts or substantial selections from fifty-six philosophical masterpieces, in pre-eminent and thoughtfully annotated translations and editions.” According to the Amazon description the additions to the 7th edition include “selections from Plotinus’ “Enneads”, Schopenhauer’s “The World as Will and Representation”, Husserl’s “Paris Lectures”, Wittgenstein’s “Philosophical Investigations”, and a new selection from Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit”. Selections from Aristotle’s “Metaphysics” and “On the Soul” have been expanded, while Aristotle’s “Physics and Nicomachean Ethics”, Hume’s “Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”, Mill’s “On Liberty”, and Russell’s “The Problem of Philosophy” have been further abridged.”

This is one book that’s a must for any philosophy student or anyone who’s interested in simply learning some of the most interesting and compelling ideas of the best western philosophers.

A Progressive Utilisation Theory (PROUT) meet was held in Mysore, India just in time to commemorate the golden jubilee of the PROUT which was first published in 1959. The PROUT assembly was hosted by Ananda Marga Pracharak Sangha. Participants came from the city as well as Karnataka and Goa.

PROUT is a socio-economic philosophy that synthesizes the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of human nature. The goal of PROUT is to provide guidance for the evolution of a truly progressive human society. According to the Proutist Universal website some of their basic tenets of PROUT are:

Spirituality and Progress - Human beings are on an evolutionary path toward realizing their higher consciousness. True progress is movement that leads to self-realization and spiritual qualities such as compassion and love for all beings. Material or intellectual gains do not necessarily constitute progress unless they contribute to deeper, spiritual well-being.

Economic Democracy - PROUT advocates economic democracy based on local economic planning, cooperatively managed businesses, local governmental control of natural resources and key industries, and socially agreed upon limits on the individual accumulation of wealth. By decentralizing the economy and making sure decision-making is in the hands of local people, we can ensure the adequate availability of food, shelter, clothing, health care and education for all.

Basic Necessities Guaranteed to All - The basic necessities of life must be a constitutional birth right of all members of society. People cannot attain their highest human potential if they lack food, shelter, clothing, health care and education.

Leadership - For a benevolent society, it is essential that leaders are morally principled and dedicated to serving society as part of their personal progress. Authority should not be centered in the hands of individuals, but should be expressed through collective leadership.

Other basic tenets discussed in the site include freedom, cultural diversity, women’s rights, science and technology, and world government.

The 6th International Philosophy, Science and Theology Festival is going to be held this weekend from the 27th of June (Saturday) to the 1st of July (Wednesday) in Grafton, North Rivers, Australia. The festival’s theme is “Our Now, Our Tomorrow”. According to the festival site “the festival is a forum where questions that concern us can be asked, discussed and debated in a friendly, non-threatening environment. Speakers from all over the world come to the festival to share their knowledge with people from all walks of life. It is a safe space in which you can listen, take part and enjoy. It is a place where barriers are broken, friendships are forged and excitement grows.” People interested in participating have the option of visiting for just one day or registering for the whole festival experience.

Here’s a short list of speakers and their chosen topics:

• Matthew Colless - What Science Can Say About Creation?
• Dr Jan Visser - Not by Philosophy, Science and Theology Alone
• Pam Wells - Personal Philosophy- a Practical Responsibility
• Dr Ian Gawler - Cancer as a path to Enlightenment
• Dr Michael Northcott- Climate Change, Industrial Capitalism and the Nature of Life on Earth
• Howie Firth- SEASHELLS, SUNFLOWERS AND GREEN SHOOTS OF SPRING
• Norman Habel - An Inconvenient Text
• Stephen Strong, Author: Constructing a New World Map; Mary Magdalene’s Dreaming

Philosophy is a very broad area of study so that if you’re interested in just one specific branch of philosophy other branches might as well be relatively alien for you. To remind us just how wide and varied the topics are that can be studied philosophically I’ll be going back to the basics and list down the main areas of study, which include the following:

Metaphysics – This area of philosophy deals with the nature of being and seeks to understand the nature of how and why things exist. It’s traditional branches are cosmology and ontology.
Epistemology – The study of HOW we know things, it is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. Epistemology is used by philosophers to decide or at least try to decide the limits and boundaries of what can and can not be known.
Logic – Logic is what’s used in all areas of philosophy to arrive at conclusions. Logic can be represented in symbols via mathematical logic though philosophical logic is still very much in use.
Ethics – Deals with morality. An area that is very much a cause for debate but is very important since it answers the questions of how we should act and react with other people. Aesthetics
Politics – The study of government and its relationship to its citizens and the communities that make up the government.
Language – Philosophical approach to the nature, origins, and usage of language.
Aesthetics – This is the study of not only beauty and art but seeks to explain how and why we classify things as beautiful as well as the degree to which we consider things beautiful.

December is still more than six months away which means we have quite some time to wait before we can see the movie Agora.

According to Wikipedia, “Agora is an upcoming 2009 historical drama film directed by Alejandro Amenábar, written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil, and starring Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella. It was screened Out of Competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. It will then get a general release on December 18, 2009.”

The movie is about the love story of astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria (Rachel Weisz) and her slave Davus (Max Minghella). It is more than a love story though because it also shows what went on during Hypatia’s time in the 4th century when religious persecution was rampant among Christians and Jews. Racehl Weisz says empathically of the story, “It’s the true story of a fourth-century woman and, in some ways, nothing much has changed. We’ve evolved in so many ways, and in others we haven’t evolved at all. We can go into outer space and travel to the moon; we can cure certain diseases; but we still kill each other in the name of religion. It seems so primitive to still be doing that.” How true.

The real Hypatia was a Greek scholar from Alexandria in Egypt. Aside from being a philosopher and astronomer she was also the first notable woman in mathematics. Hypatia died in the hands of a Coptic Christian mob who blamed her for religious turmoil.

Humour. Humour is very important and the philosophy of humour is a very interesting topic but today’s post isn’t about that, instead here’s a link to a site that will allow you to indulge yourself with a philosophical argument with none other than the great Socrates. Yep. You’ve got that right. If you wish to match your wits against Socrates then head on to The Socrates Argument Clinic.

A friendly reminder: If you don’t win the argument you’ll need to drink the hemlock but if you win Socrates will drink it for you. Of course it is really difficult to win against Socrates but there are some who have won.

If you wish to take more than the free argument clinic though you’ll be disappointed since the link to the InterQuest homepage no longer works.

Have a good time arguing with Socrates!

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge. - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

The book New Waves in Philosophy of Religion has been published by Palgrave MacMillan last December as part of its New Waves in Philosophy anthology series. The series aims to “gather the young and up-and-coming scholars in philosophy to give their view of the subject now and in the years to come, and to serve a documentary purpose.”

New Waves in Philosophy of Religion, edited by Y. Nagasawa & E. Wielenberg, discusses the “perennial problems and emerging issues from refreshingly new points of view and develop original ideas. It addresses such topics as: divine attributes, the origin of the universe, evolution and design, implications and puzzles of religious doctrines, morality and God, and the meaning of life.”

Contents of the book is as follows:

After reading the latest news about Jackie Chan and his comments about the Chinese people I think he’ll make a great topic for the next volume of the Popular Culture and Philosophy® series of Open Court Publishing. The book can be titled “Jackie Chan and Philosophy: Chinese Martial Arts and the Art of Kicking Your People in the Teeth.” Of course since I adore Jackie Chan as an actor the book can also tackle his movie philosophy, his sense of humour, and the real reason behind his seemingly masochistic tendencies when it comes to stunts. These things alone would make for enough material to write a philosophy book on Jackie Chan but add to that his latest anti-Chinese freedom remarks and you’ve got one interesting character to analyze, someone worthy of a philosophy book.

So what were the things he said that landed him the honor of being considered to be submitted by yours truly to Open Court? Here are snippets of his controversial comments during the panel discussion at the annual Boao Forum for Asia last April 18.

“Sure, we’ve got 5,000 years of history, but our new country has just been around for 60 years and the reforms for 30 years. It’s hard to compare us with other countries. But I feel that in the 10 years after Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule, I can gradually see, I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not.”

“I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.”

Sources:
Spokesman: Jackie Chan comments out of context
Jackie Chan: Chinese people need to be controlled

How do you get someone who doesn’t care about philosophy but loves TV shows like The Simpsons, South Park, and the Sopranos? Simple. Get them a book about the philosophy of each show. Yes there really are books about the philosophy of these shows. There’s The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer (2001), South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007), and The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill Therefore I Am (2004). All books from the popular culture and philosophy series of Open Court Publishing. Just from the titles alone you’ll get their attention.

So how about if they don’t watch TV and like music instead well then you can recommend any of the following:

There are also books for geeks, movie lovers, Harley enthusiasts and more. If you don’t find your topic of particular interest what’s great is that you can submit the topic to Open Court Publishing and they’ll consider whether it is worth doing a philosophy volume on. They prefer very specific topics so make sure you think up something really interesting and specific. So far they’re at the 38th volume and have 14 more topics in line. Do check out their site I’m sure you’ll find something of interest.

Envy is an emotion everyone has at some point felt and needed to contend with. But what exactly is envy? When can you say that you are envious and when are you jealous? Is there are difference between the two? Is envy necessarily bad? All these questions about envy are answered in by Justin D’Arms’ paper on Envy. There he discussed the nature of envy, its rationality, and its relation to justice.

What interested me most about the whole article though is how he showed that envy is not always irrational and that despite the fact that it is often painted in a negative manner, even being considered to be one of the seven deadly sins, it can actually be benign. However, I we all understand why envy has earned its nasty reputation what with all the negative things that do tend to happen or at least the negative emotions that are invoked when the green-eyed monster makes it appearance. To be able to understand the whole concept of envy though and see why it can actually be benign, one needs to first understand its basic nature based on its definition and according to the following philosophers envy can be defined as follows:

Envy is pain at the good fortune of others. (Aristotle, Rhetoric, Bk II, Chapter 10)

Envy is a propensity to view the well-being of others with distress, even though it does not detract from one’s own. [It is] a reluctance to see our own well-being overshadowed by another’s because the standard we use to see how well off we are is not the intrinsic worth of our own well-being but how it compares with that of others. [Envy] aims, at least in terms of one’s wishes, at destroying others’ good fortune. (Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals 6:45)

In short, as D’Arms puts it arises from comparing how well you are doing with others. For the in-depth (and very fascinating) discussion on envy read Justin D’Arms’ article on Envy.

Image Source: Digerati Life