In honor of today’s holiday and the greatest movie saga of all time, I’m uploading a copy of a paper that I wrote for one of my graduate courses, Women in World Religions, with Dr. Lori Swick.
You can download the essay in its entirety here.
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis – Introduction
C.S. Lewis wrote a fascinating and truly insightful philosophical treatise into the four key forms or versions of what we in the English-speaking world would simply refer to as ‘Love.’ He did this by drawing upon the vast richness of the literary world, especially those tales woven during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Lewis begins by differentiating between two potential functions of love: Gift love and Need love. In what follows, I’ll provide a multi-segmented summary of Lewis’s treatment of Love from a philosophical perspective.
Continue readingConcept-Checking: Nonrational vs. Irrational vs. Rational
Though this is a relatively rare distinction to be made, it is nonetheless an important one. Nonrationality is NOT the same thing as irrationality. These two terms are different and must be recognized as such. While we are at it, we should discuss what ‘rationality’ actually is…
Continue readingPhilosophers as Intellectual Historians
The philosopher, among many other things, is an intellectual historian.
- What is an Intellectual Historian? An Intellectual Historian is someone who records, recalls, tracks, analyzes, and/or directly interacts with key agents/witnesses, primary and seconds sources of various intellectual value from the past, as well as objects of historical, social, or cultural significance.
An Initial Look into ‘Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement’
- Name Calling
- Ad Hominem
- Responding to Tone
- Contradiction
- Counterargument
- Refutation
- Refuting the Central Point
Concept-Checking: Killing vs. Murder/Homicide vs. Manslaughter
*To kill someone means to terminate their life permanently. To kill someone means that they cease to exist in any meaningful biological or physiological sense of the term. To kill someone means to end their ability to do just about everything.
**To murder someone means to terminate their life permanently. To murder someone means that they cease to exist in any meaningful biological or physiological sense of the term. To murder someone means to end their ability to do just about everything.
***To commit homicide against someone means to terminate their life permanently. To commit homicide against someone means that they cease to exist in any meaningful biological or physiological sense of the term. To commit homicide against someone means to end their ability to do just about everything.
****To commit manslaughter against someone means to terminate their life permanently. To commit manslaughter against someone means that they cease to exist in any meaningful biological or physiological sense of the term. To commit manslaughter against someone means to end their ability to do just about everything.
What is Philosophy?
[I.]: Philosophy is a field of study or academic discipline that “seeks to uncover the nature, root, and meaning of life, being, reality (metaphysics), ethics, and knowledge (epistemology).” Given that definition, philosophy has a broad purview that often overlaps and interacts with many others (psychology, economics, biology, physics, etc.).
Tafacorian Thoughts 