Maverick Philosopher

The Worst Thing about Poverty

Substack latest. A quotation from Theodor Haecker with a bit of commentary.

Use it or Lose it?

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If you want to maintain your physical fitness, you must exercise regularly. Use it or lose it!  Not so long ago  I thought that the same principle had a political application: if you want to maintain your freedoms, you must exercise them.  Use 'em or lose 'em! But times have changed.  And when times change, the wise re-evaluate. I'll give two examples.

Civil Liability for Gun Manufacturers?

Of course not! Substack latest.

Louis Lavelle on the Stoic Wisdom

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I am a lover of the Stoics. Why waste time on New Age hucksters when one can read Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius? But while the Stoics can take us a good stretch down the road to wisdom, they cannot bring us to the end — a fact long appreciated by first-rate minds. In late antiquity, Aurelius Augustinus offered a critique of the Stoics in Book XIX, Chapter 4 of The City of God, a critique worthy of being called classical. We will have to examine that critique one of these days. But today I want to draw your attention to some passages from Chapter 10, Section 4 of Louis Lavelle's The Dilemma of Narcissus (Allen & Unwin, 1973, tr. Gairdner):

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On Acquiring a Large Vocabulary

But how useful in a society of semi-literates?

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A Part-Time Monk's Solution to Suggestibility

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Toleration Extremism: Notes on John Stuart Mill

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Toleration is the touchstone of classical liberalism, but Mill takes it too far.

Is Hegel Guilty of 'Epochism'?

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'Medieval' is not a pejorative term!

Alypius and the Gladiators

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A note on the soul and its toxins on the feast of St. Augustine.

Are the Dead Subject to Harm?

Suppose the executrix of my will fails to disburse the funds I have earmarked for the local food bank after my death and instead heads for Las Vegas with the loot. Has she harmed me? Stolen my money? Violated my wishes?

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I can't eat a no-longer-existent sandwich or kick a no-longer-existent ball. How then can she harm a no-longer-existent man?  

Would Naturalism Make Life Easier?

Substack latest, for popular consumption, sans technical minutiae.

Do I imagine that what I serve up at Substack will improve the world? I am none too sanguine about that, but if it brings a bit of light into a few heads, then it is worth doing. Perhaps it will distract you from your silly distractions and ignite a few questions. It is never too late to get serious. But it is later than you think, and the Reaper Man is sharpening his scythe as we speak. 

The Witness of Maximilian Kolbe

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Four Senses of 'Absurd'

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The Uselessness of Stoicism in the Face of Death

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Profiling, Prejudice, and Discrimination

IQ and the Truth-Intolerant Left