Category: Philosopher’s Calendar
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Camus, Virtue, and its Exhortation
Albert Camus died on this date in 1960. Albert Camus, Notebooks 1951-1959, tr. Ryan Bloom, Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2010, p. 72: Virtue is not hateful. But speeches on virtue are. Without a doubt, no mouth in the world, much less mine, can utter them. Likewise, every time somebody interjects to speak of my honesty…
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Husserl, Knight of Reason
Edmund Husserl was born on this date in 1859. How do we honor a philosopher? By re-enacting his thoughts, sympathetically, yet critically. Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas. Ich muss meinen Weg gehen so sicher, so fest entschlossen und so ernst wie Duerers Ritter, Tod und Teufel. "I must go my way as surely,…
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Dissertation Advice on the Occasion of Kant’s Birthday
Immanuel Kant was born on this day in 1724. He died in 1804. My dissertation on Kant, which now lies 40 years in the past, is dated 22 April 1978. But if, per impossibile, my present self were Doktorvater to my self of 40 years ago, my doctoral thesis might not have been approved! As one's standards rise…
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On this Date in 1844
Friedrich Nietzsche was born on this date in 1844. He died on 25 August 1900. You must attend to him if you would understand our current spiritual/cultural situation. His great aphorism, "Some men are born posthumously" applies to him, and I am sure that when he penned it he was thinking of himself. What makes it…
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Fragment of an Open Letter to Edmund Husserl on His Birthday
Edmund Husserl was born on this date in 1859. Philosophy was the mission of my life. I had to philosophize otherwise I could not live in this world. (Here) Dear Husserl, It may be that the truth we need cannot be known in a way that satisfies modern scruples. Not everything worth knowing can be…
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Philosopher’s Calendar
Friedrich Nietzsche was born on this date in 1844. He died on 25 August 1900. His great aphorism, "Some men are born posthumously" applies to him, and I am sure that when he penned it he was thinking of himself. Mark Anderson writes to tell me that his book, Zarathustra Stone, has been published. Related…