I’ve written a new piece about two philosophers – Raymond Geuss and the late Alasdair MacIntyre – for the Marginalia Review of Books. There’s no paywall. You can read it here:
https://www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/two-ships-passing-at-high-noon-alasdair-macintyre-raymond-geuss
I’ve published a new academic article in Economic and Political Weekly on Gandhi’s attempt to recover the varna system so as to generate time for spiritual and civic activity and produce an Indian subject capable of self-rule, or “swaraj.” It’s available here: https://www.epw.in/journal/2024/20/special-articles/varna-system-gandhis-theory-civic-education.html
I’ve written a new piece for Compact on the necessity of confronting the economic roots of cultural and spiritual problems, framing the argument around the work of Nicholas Oresme, a 14th century French bishop. You can read it here: https://compactmag.com/article/the-catholic-prophet-of-inequality
My book, The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut, is available here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-28210-2
This is going to be an odd post about Greek philosophy and the contemporary analogues of Greek traditions. Its purpose is threefold. First, I’ll argue that the Stoics, Skeptics, and Epicureans had similar conceptions of the good life, that this conception closely resembles the conception preferred by Buddhists, and that this conception of the good life is mistaken. Second, I’ll argue that the Stoics and Skeptics both make similar–if opposite–errors with respect to meta-ethics, with the Stoics asserting an unrealistically ambitious epistemology and the Skeptics denying that epistemology without acknowledging less ambitious alternatives. Third, I’ll argue that many contemporary political and moral antagonisms are essentially new versions of the Stoic/Skeptic antagonism, and that there is a popular Epicurean response to this antagonism.
Continue reading “Against the Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Buddhists”
The other day, Richard Dawkins had a go at Plato:
It’s not the first time. Dawkins has a thing for picking on Plato. He said this back in March:
Continue reading “Why Richard Dawkins Fails to Appreciate Plato”
Benjamin Studebaker 