Electric Agora (archive)

Month: September 2016

  • Vicarious Grief

    by Daniel Tippens A few months after my dad’s death in March 2011, I stood on the porch outside of my family home in Maryland. The sun had just risen, and I looked up and took in the scene: an acre of glistening green grass bordered by a thin lining of pine trees, their branches […]

  • Dangerous Times: Thoughts on the US Presidential Election

    by Mark English “Could fear of Trump rattle Stoics, while fear of death finds no purchase?” Dwayne Holmes was alluding to self-styled Stoic Massimo Pigliucci’s readiness – in the face of the possibility of a Trump presidency – to endorse over-the-top, emotion-driven political analysis. [1] Panic levels are certainly high in liberal and progressive circles, […]

  • Moral Reflections Inspired by (some of) the Ten Commandments

    by Daniel A. Kaufman Reflection on the explicitly moral commandments in the Decalogue raises a number of interesting considerations, in the area of Ethics.  I am thinking, specifically, of the following (translation is the 1985, Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh): You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. One thing to […]

  • Selected Topics from the Critique of Pure Reason

    by Daniel A. Kaufman My discussion with David Ottlinger on selected topics from Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason.”  Originally aired on MeaningofLife.TV, part of the BloggingHeads.TV network, August 28, 2016. https://youtu.be/PxPGiARYezE

  • Facebook, Siri, and the World of Illusory Experience

    By Dan Tippens In Roger William’s The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect, a quantum super computer, Prime Intellect, operating on an essentially utilitarian calculus, decides that it would be best for mankind if he were to upload everyone to cyberspace, so that he could protect them from every manner of harm, give them as many possessions and […]

  • First Party Spoilers

    by Dwayne Holmes With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump placed as front runners to be the next president of the United States (POTUS), voters are being warned against voting for third party candidates. Exploiting fear of “third party spoilers” is routine in any close election and is meant largely to keep party members from straying. That […]

  • Course Notes — Plato, Meno

    by Daniel A. Kaufman Well, school is back and session and that means that it’s time to resume publishing Course Notes!  My courses have undergone a significant transformation this year, and I am looking forward to sharing some of the more interesting developments with the Electric Agora audience. Most importantly, I have completely revamped my […]

  • Science and Natural Language

    by Mark English I once watched a nature documentary about a group of lions in the wild. At one stage a lioness and her cubs found themselves separated from the group. After a period of time during which she almost starved and her cubs were killed, she finally managed to rejoin the group. The other […]