Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Aphorisms and Observations

  • Human Height

    True human height is not measured in feet and inches but in the altitude  of the thoughts we think and the problems we engage.  The higher the problems, the higher the man.

  • Scientism

    Those who hold that the only knowledge is scientific knowledge will not be content to restrict themselves to such knowledge; they will be tempted to pass off as scientific what is not.  The prime and best example is scientism itself: it is passed off as scientific when it is a philosophical thesis with all the…

  • Kerouac’s Posthumous Solvency

    Some become solvent only after their dissolution.  The case of Kerouac.  His solvency came long after he had dissolved himself in that sovereign solvent of soul and body, alcohol.  But money, though making solvent,  is a solvent too, of human ties, as his relatives learned when they fell to fighting over his estate.

  • If the Young Will Let Them

    As long as their health holds out and they avoid mirrors, the old can cultivate the illusion that they are still young.  If the young will let them.

  • Admiration and Contempt

    Your first mistake was to admire him inordinately, your second, after he proved less than wholly admirable, was to swing over to contempt.  No one is worthy of unqualified admiration, and no one is wholly contemptible.

  • An Aphorism of Mine Translated into Slovak

    Dear Mr. Vallicella, My name is Cyril Šebo, I am an English teacher in Slovakia and also a blogger on our national Slovak blogspot http://cyrilsebo.blog.sme.sk/clanok.asp?cl=309289 Today is The International Day of Translators and in my blog I dared to use one of your thougts from your blog, to show how difficult it can get to…

  • Amounting to Something

    One only truly 'amounts to something' when one no longer holds this to be the goal.  (Written 24 June 1972)

  • Permanence and Impermanence

    Both worldling and philosopher distinguish between the permanent and the impermanent. How then do they differ?  For the philosopher what the worldling calls permanent is impermanent, while for the worldling what the philosopher calls permanent doesn't exist.

  • False Modesty

    To appear modest, some of us preface our remarks with, "Correct me if I'm wrong."  But we say it only when we know we are not.

  • Human Perversity

    People want sympathy and understanding.  But we must be careful how we show them. "I understand exactly how you feel" may earn the response, "You have no idea how I feel, how the hell could you?"

  • Sweet Mystery of Life

    Some of life is comprehensibility and some is mystery.  It is comprehensible that it is so; mysterious that it should be so.

  • Negativity Breeds Negativity

    Negative people elicit negative responses from others.  So they suffer twice: from their own negativity and from the negativity they cause.

  • No Man is a Beast Merely

    It is natural for a beast to be bestial, but not for a man.  He must degrade and denature himself, and that only a spiritual being can do.  Freely degrading himself, he becomes like a beast thereby proving that he is — more than a beast.

  • Requite Good with Good

    Requite good with good; evil with justice.

  • On a Saying Often Attributed to George Santayana

    Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana Those who can remember the past and are able to learn its lessons are typically not those with the power to make a difference in the present so as to prevent the repetition of the past; and those with the power…