Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Disagreement

  • Zelenskyy’s Performance in the Oval: Two Views

    We live in times of extreme social and political polarization. (We are so polarized that we are polarized over the nature, extent, and causes of polarization! But I will resist the temptation to meta-level digress.) Cathy Young, A Shameful, Appalling Spectacle Philip Wegmann, How Zelensky Miscalculated Trump  

  • Disagreement in Philosophy: Notes on Jiří Fuchs

    That philosophers disagree is a fact about which there is little disagreement, even among philosophers. But what this widespread and deep disagreement signifies is a topic of major disagreement. One issue is whether or not the fact of disagreement supplies a good reason to doubt the possibility of philosophical knowledge.   The contemporary Czech philosopher…

  • Athens and Jerusalem, Disagreement and Dogmatism: The Case of Gilson

    Elliot in a comment from an earlier thread  writes,  . . . I mentioned negligence about the truth. Something similar seems to be the case regarding reasons and arguments. Folks might be interested in them (and even in weak ones) if they support a belief already held. But the same folks might turn away from…

  • In the Teeth of Increasing Polarization . . .

    . . . Should We Discuss Our Differences? Pessimism versus optimism about disagreement.   Our national life is becoming like philosophy: a scene of endless disagreement about almost everything. The difference, of course, is that philosophical controversy is typically conducted in a gentlemanly fashion without bloodshed or property damage. Some say that philosophy is a blood sport,…

  • Dueling Articles

    We need to revisit in thought if not in fact the practice of dueling. Later. In lieu of that, here are a couple of dueling articles. You know where I stand. How about you? David Frum, The Ruin that a Trump Presidency Would Mean Steve Cortes, Only Trump Can Save America For the foolish Frum…

  • Political Polarization: the Radical Cure

    Political polarization is deep and wide. We are 'siloed' into our positions and things threaten to go 'thermonuclear.'  The usual cures cannot be dismissed out of hand, but are mostly blather served up by squishy, bien-pensant 'liberals' for their own insipid and clueless ilk. No doubt we should listen to others respectfully, but how many…

  • Sam Harris and the Problem of Disagreement

    Is conversation our only hope? Substack stack-leader Excerpt: What about ethical instruction?  Only a liberal fool would advocate conversations with young children about theft and murder and lying and bestiality as if the rightness or wrongness of these acts is subject to reasonable debate or is a matter of mere opinion.  They must be taught…

  • Debate, Disagreement, and the Limits of Rational Discourse

    I wrote a few months back, . . . the wisest policy is not to debate leftists. Generally speaking and admitting exceptions, leftists need to be defeated, not debated. Debate is worthwhile only with open-minded truth seekers. Truth, however, is not a leftist value. At the apex of the leftist's value hierarchy stands POWER. That…

  • Should We Discuss Our Differences?

    Pessimism versus optimism about disagreement. Substack latest.

  • Politics and Ridicule in a Post-Consensus Age

    Substack latest.  

  • Clarity and Agreement

    Agreement on matters of moment, religious, political, and philosophical, seems out of reach. But we may be able to reach clarity about our respective positions on the issues that divide us.  That's what I used to think.  I used to think that clarity is attainable even if agreement is not.  But now I think that…

  • John Anderson: “We are all bothered by different things.”

    One of the nasty roots of political disagreement. Over at Substack

  • Thomas Sowell on the Root of What Divides Us

    Thomas Sowell interviewed on the conflict of visions, the conflict between the constrained vision of conservatives and the unconstrained vision of leftists.  The constrained vision "sees the evils of the world as deriving from the limited and unhappy choices available, given the inherent moral and intellectual limitations of human beings." "When Rousseau said that 'man…

  • Rush Limbaugh (1951-2021) and the Depth of Disagreement

    As a philosopher, I am more interested in the nature of disagreement than in the particular things we disagree about. Why should our disagreements be so bitter and protracted?  But the particular bones of contention are fascinating too. At the moment, there is wild disagreement over the assessment of Rush Limbaugh's remarkably influential  career.  Here's…

  • Fruitful Disagreement

    When there is an excess of agreement, discussions in politics and elsewhere are often tiresome and boring: the parties are as if in competition to see who can express the most outrage.  One is preaching to the preachers. But an excess of agreement is better than a paucity thereof.  The ideal discussion, however,  is one…