Monthly Archives: January 2018

David Bruce: Work Anecdotes

1993 photo by Alan Light [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons As a teenager, Jay Leno got a job at a Ford saleslot doing odds and ends. Among his jobs was taking the hubcaps off the cars at night … Continue reading

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NOTES on René Descartes (1596-1650): Meditations

after Frans Hals [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons René Descartes (1596-1650) lived in an age of skepticism. The New Science had grown to be very important, and it had brought into question many of the beliefs that had been held … Continue reading

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Dante’s PURGATORY, Canto 1: VENUS

Engraver: Gustave Doré *** VENUS *** Venus: love’s planet Can’t be seen in Inferno Dante sees it here *** NOTE: The Inferno is always dark, but no stars and planets can be seen there. The Mountain of Purgatory has both … Continue reading

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NOTES on Plato (427?-347 B.C.E.): The Visible and the Invisible

PLATO https://pixabay.com/en/bronze-plato-scholar-610837/ Plato (427?-347 B.C.E.) is one of the giants of philosophy. Part of his accomplishment was to create a complete philosophical system, one whose parts — metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political and social philosophy, etc. — were closely integrated. Some … Continue reading

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Dante’s PURGATORY, Canto 1: INFERNO VERSUS PURGATORY

https://pixabay.com/en/matterhorn-switzerland-europe-lake-2921923/ *** INFERNO VERSUS PURGATORY *** Here air is pleasant Purgatory: souls are saved Here is night and day *** Hell is always dark No repentance is found there Its air always stinks *** https://davidbruceblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/dantes-purgatory-canto-1-retelling-the-island-of-purgatory-and-cato-the-guard/ *** David Bruce’s Amazon Author … Continue reading

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David Bruce (born 1954): Metaphysical Theories’ Strengths and Weaknesses

David Bruce One good way to choose among competing metaphysical theories is to list their strengths and weaknesses, then choose on that basis. MATERIALISM Materialism is the view that all reality consists of matter. Thus, the only things that are … Continue reading

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Dante’s PURGATORY, Canto 1: Calliope

Source: Simon Vouet, The Muses Urania and Calliope (detail) *** CALLIOPE *** Muse Calliope Sing and help me tell my tale Help a suppliant *** NOTE: Dante has a new task. He has told about what he saw in the … Continue reading

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NOTES on Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951): Philosophical Investigations

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1899–1951) Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) had much to say on the subject of language and metaphysics. In his Philosophical Investigations, which was posthumously published in 1953, his views on language (which had been greatly revised since the publication of … Continue reading

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NOTES on Richard Taylor (1919-2003): Materialism and Personal Identity

https://pixabay.com/en/knowledge-book-library-glasses-1052010/ In the second edition of his book Metaphysics (1974), Richard Taylor (1919-2003) examines the advantages and disadvantages of believing in the metaphysical theories of Materialism (in the form of the Identity Theory, aka the Identity Thesis) and of Dualism. … Continue reading

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NOTES on George Berkeley (1685-1753): Idealism

John Smibert – Bishop George Berkeley – Public Domain George Berkeley (1685-1753) was a believer in Idealism, which denies the reality of physical matter. According to Idealism, reality is mental, not physical. In his Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, … Continue reading

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