On Aristotle's Ethics

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:38:19 GMT

clipped by: akarra

In speaking of the fact that "good" and "being" are meant in many ways, he uses the categories - ways of being - to demonstrate an inviolable link with the good (i.e. "of what sort" points to the "excellences," "virtues;" the good as "what something is" would be "god" or the "intellect;" questions of amount would point to what "limit;" "relation" makes us wonder about "usefulness," "time" speaks of "opportunity," and "place" brings up "dwelling," which I will refer you to Heidegger to consider). Now he seemingly keeps the scope of being wider than the good, and the good seems to be only one facet of being. Still, since all our opinions about the good seem to derive from being - notice that we don't agree on the gods, or what intellectual truth is, or what is useful, etc. - there is a sense in which "good = being" here.

Tags: aristotle, philosophy, ethics

Is Politics Reducible to Rhetoric?

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:06:23 GMT

clipped by: akarra
clipper's remarks: Is politics reducible to rhetoric? Anyone claiming that Washington is one big spin machine thinks this - can this idea, in turn, be critiqued?

Clip Source: inrethinking.blogspot.com

I hold that Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, in thinking Washington is a spin machine that is able to dictate how we conceive issues through a passive media, think the sophistic conclusion, but not for the reasons the Sophists held exactly. They probably think that in a democracy, the tasks government is charged with can be fulfilled efficiently as long as people participate and are looking for the best solution. In other words, while the sophists dismiss the most practical workings in order to romanticize speech's power, Colbert and Stewart see the improper use of speech as an impediment to progress, and probably see the properly functioning day-to-day operations as characteristic of progress.

To be even more blunt: the Sophists are shrewder than Colbert and Stewart. The Sophists know as long as there are people, "truth" alone will not be enough, and that the political is far more than trains running on time.

Tags: daily show, colbert, jon stewart, politics, aristotle, leo strauss

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On Aristotle's Ethics

Is Politics Reducible to Rhetoric?