Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung is a great book. The aim of the book is to be an introduction to Jungian thought, and also a brief exploration of human psychology. In both of those aims, I believe he succeeds; however, there are nonetheless some reasons to not read the book. Here is why.
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Many people reject Jung because they believed his approach to psychology is supernatural or non-material. However, that is. a common misconception of Jung. His views on psychology are indeed non-empirical in many cases, but they fit just fine in a naturalist worldview. Here is how.
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How much of our water is polluted? How much clean water is left? And how many conflicts will arise over fresh water in the future, given that our water sources have become more polluted all while our population has continually grown. Should cities be forced to stop growing? Should water be privatized to encourage more efficient use? That’s what the ripple effect attempts to discuss, and here is a review of how I think it faired.
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The Marshmallow test is a self-help book that doesn’t live up to the hype but remains a good book, nonetheless. For beginners in psychology, the book is filled with tons of new insights; however, for those are more than beginners, the book can be somewhat repetitive and basic. That said, this is a book which I urge people to read, even if they are not into self-help books or are advanced readers in psychology, because the book is easy to misunderstand. The claims made in popular media about this book are wildly inaccurate.
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We often think of values like freedom, loyalty, and generosity as inherently good and preferable. However, when we take a closer look at these values, we can immediately recognize instances of freedom, loyalty, and generosity which are dysfunctional, unhealthy, and overall pathological. In other words, seemingly benign values can also be incredibly harmful. That is the point of this essay.
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The Coming Plague is a terrific book about microbes and their relationship to human society. The book covers many epidemics and pandemics from the past, as well as explains modern problems around drug resistance and health policy! If you are after a good overview book, I highly recommend The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett.
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Hunger can train our ability to focus; only because focus and hunger are both states to which we must willfully enter. We are instinctive eaters and easily distracted, so we infrequently endure hunger or focus. By learning how to withstand hunger, we can learn how to focus.
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What is a developed self? and how does one acquire a developed self? And what is the difference between self-development and regular development?
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Social media does more than allow us to create fake narratives about ourselves and others, it also allows us to warp our personas, unwittingly.
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There are differences between the respect earned from a master and the respect earned from an average person. Both are exciting to earn, yet both are not equal. Let’s discuss that difference.
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People have reasons other than the ones which they assert for believing one thing rather than another. And those reasons can at times come from rational or irrational fears. In the case of nature and change, there are specific fears which can make us opt for one over the other. Lets explore those.
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Disagreement is like a two-sided coin. It is either a virtue or a vice, depending on whether we are the one’s disagreeing or someone is disagreeing with us. For all the acts we commit, disagreement is one which, in regards to whether it is a virtue or vice, we flip-flop around rather frequently. Disagreement, in other words, can reveal our vices.
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There are a lot of different opinions about what skepticism entails, and I believe a majority of them are misguided. Here is what skepticism should mean to you.
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One common response I see towards skeptics is dismissal. People often avoid skepticism and the conclusions it brings. There are a few reasons as to why that it is, and they range from psychological and personal to immature and unnecessary.
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Skepticism is both a philosophy and a way of life. But there isn’t one type of skepticism out there, and so there isn’t one type of skeptical life; a point all too often forgotten. Lets discuss that point.
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Science and meaning are nor compatible. Modern science takes a heavily empirical approach to knowledge, and as a result suffers in being compatible with non-empirical things, like meaning. Lets explain.
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Why is skepticism important for science? Because science without skepticism would have too many problems. Lack of innovation, bad dogma, and poor methods are just a few of the reasons why skepticism is important for science.
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Not all marketing books should be read, and many should be ignored for being overly generic. However, there is enough good ideas inside this book that I think it is worth a read. Let’s explain some of those ideas.
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Having a role model is a good thing, but it can very easily become a bad thing when we are unreasonable in our judgements about them. Role models are only good if we know how to use them properly.
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I know nothing. And that is ok. Why? Because there is not really a good reason why we should know anything to begin with!
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What is ethical skepticism? How is moral skepticism similar to epistemic skepticism? And what are the differences between justified moral action and justified moral knowledge? Let’s discuss.
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What is skepticism? In general, skepticism is the attitude of doubt. However, skepticism is far more than just doubt. Depending on where it is being applied, and how it is being used, there are different varieties of skepticism. Let’s discuss
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Consumer psychology has made many changes to our understanding of economics. We can no longer rely on, at least not entirely, neoliberal descriptions of purchasing behaviour. Here is why.
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Roman history is a massive area of Research. And as a result, we often don’t know where to start reading. That’s why I suggest reading this book. I found this book to be coherent, informative, and written well all while covering a good introductory range of Roman history.
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Finance often receives bad publicity. People complain that financial tools are used by elites who live lavishly above us all, and that nothing of use can come from finance for ordinary people. And although there is a hint of truth in that sentiment, this book argues otherwise. This book argues that societies in general are only able to occur as a result of financial tools.
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There is no need to look up at great figures, for we should instead place them on equal footing. They are more similar to us in both professional and personal affairs than we realize. They are not beyond ordinary people, they are ordinary people who have been fetishized by the media. Biographies can help us see that.
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Beauty can be many different things. But two specific things beauty can be are either ordinary or odd. Lets discuss each.
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There are two prominent schools of thought when it comes to categories. The first is prototype theory, the second is classical theory. They seem similar on the surface level, but are greatly different from one another. Let’s discuss how each answer the question of what a category is.
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Theories are intended to explain the reality before us. However, we often times have disagreements about which explanation is correct. I herein provide a solution to such disagreements by appealing to a generalist account of human cognition.
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We tend to think our views on friendship are rational and well thought out; however, social psychology suggests that is not as true as we would often prefer. There are unconscious forces which drive our choice in who we like and dislike.
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We all belong to some sort of ingroup and outgroup, but what are ingroups and outgroups exactly? Lets explain the main features of ingroups and outgroups.
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We are all conformists. We think we aren’t, but we are. To prove that point, lets discuss conformity in our lives.
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Boring books are hard to read. So when someone has advice on how to read them, I am all ears.
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Should I be self-centred? Is it okay to be self-centred? We are told putting others first is noble. But is that true?
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Are all values equal? can I be friends with someone who has different values than me? And what should I do when my friend has values different than mine?
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Reading and writing come with unevenly distributed tasks. Some duties fall onto the writer, and other duties fall onto the reader. As a result, books are filled with asymmetry.
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Creativity is weird thing. It is whimsical, fickle and borderline ineffable. Creativity has a mind of its own.
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Nihilism gets a bad reputation in public life. There is a ugly stereotype of nihilism that just isn’t true. Nihilism is ok, and here is why.
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What are we to do when our friends have no morals? How should we respond? Well, we have two options, stay or leave. Lets see which is best for you.
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Ethics is a confusing topic, but it is made even more confusing when people who do ethics misunderstand their own positions on epistemology and truth.
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Dissatisfaction with one’s circumstances, that is what discontent is. But what should we think of that? Is discontent good or bad?
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Reading will neither increase your intelligence nor bestow ability of genius onto you. Be warned, some among us seek to fetishize reading to something more than what it actually is.
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Atlas is the physical embodiment of perfection. He encompasses the ideal traits of humanity and reveals to us their appearance in ordinary form. We have much to learn from Atlas
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Altruists are liars and unaware. Altruists are dishonest, deceitful, and manipulative. And egoists are honest, upfront, and self-aware. Despite the common narrative saying otherwise, we are all selfish, and that is ok.
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We should not help others, at least in some cases. Despite popular belief, helping other can be the wrong thing to do.
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Solipsism is justifiable, but why? Are there any good reasons to deny solipsism? I think solipsism is ok, here is why.
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Why is philosophy so hard? The three primary reasons, I believe, are intangibility, universal scope, and universal application.
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Philosophy is important for many reasons, but here are 4 reasons why philosophy is important.
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Among the many challenges of philosophy, there are two of utmost importance: what is a rational life, and why should you live a rational life?
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Realism is spoken of at length in philosophy, but realism goes well beyond philosophy. Realism can be found in just about every branch of knowledge, and here’s why.
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That which is sacred is immune from critique. So, what happens when we treat parts of our lives as sacred? What happens when we become sacred cows?
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Being open has a challenge unique only to being open. And failure can mean the difference between a terrible or good life. But what is this challenge?
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Are all observations influenced by theory? Can beliefs be formed without bias? Is perception laden with theory? These are the questions which relate to the problem of theory-ladenness. And I believe we cannot answer any of them with epistemic certainty.
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We have a choice to be either internally or externally focused in our personhood. And although it is true that many choose to be externally focused, because we reward social conformity, there many reasons to be internally focused, nonetheless; we just have to be willing to tolerate the unease.
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What is a lie? Do all lies require an intentional element? How do we distinguish deception and omission from a lie? these questions, as simple as they are, don’t have simple answers. So, lets see what philosophers have to say about lies.
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Moral people have less friends, for a few reasons, of which are mentioned in this essay.
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An introduction to precedent that discusses horizontal and vertical precedent; persuasive and binding precedent; and the arguments for and against precedent.
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When it comes to changing who we are as people, one of the most interesting ways to do so is through acting. Who knows the nature of character change better than actors?
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A lot of people have flawed methods to derive their self-esteem. As such, I herein propose a better method to derive one’s esteem.
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Why We Buy is a consumer psychology book, written by Paco Underhill, a consultant, who utilizes consumer psychology to increase retail store sales. How does he do it?
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3 reasons why self-awareness is important.
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People change, but why? The answer to why people change comes in many forms, and is often dependent on highly specific circumstances. here are just a few reasons as to why people change.
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Social Media has received a lot of hate. People have said it ruins social life, it interferes with politics, and harms the mental health of our children. And therefore, social media is cancerous. But is that really so?
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What are delusions? The definition of delusions is that they are idiosyncratic beliefs or impressions that are firmly maintained despite evidence. But the definition of delusions seems to not fit the examples of delusions. So, what are delusions to psychologists and psychiatrists?
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How can neuroscience the law? One way is to help determine levels of culpability by assessing the kind of brain functioning someone has. But, how are we to do that?
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Political psychology has become a popular field recently, due to Jordan Peterson. But there is more than personality research going on within the field. Lets talk about what political psychology is.
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People who argue that philosophy and science are different simply don’t understand science. There are two good arguments for why philosophy and science are the same. One comes from cognition and the other from method; I discuss them herein.
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Humans are ungrateful. Seldom do our sacrifices for others get recognized. We give all the help in the world to others, all so it may go unnoticed. Humans are indeed ungrateful.
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How should we live life? For asceticism, the answer is simple. But to see how, we have to discuss: what asceticism is and the reasons to be ascetic, as well as the confusions about hedonism and asceticism. All that and more is discussed herein.
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Celebrities are not people. The idea of a celebrity refers to something entirely non-human. Celebrities are synthetic personalities created by marketers, lawyers, and public relations specialists. Celebrities are not people, far from it.
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When dealing with social policy, we have to adopt some theoretical viewpoint. That is, we are either social constructionists or evolutionary theorists. But how do we decipher which one is correct? We do so with political centrism
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Humans come in a uniform body, society, and culture. Everything is similar enough to be identified as non-distinct. Yet, when we look closer at the individual differences, we can see that each human is indeed distinct. We’re all a bit different.
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An infinite regress is something used to negate or construct different arguments. Philosophers like Hume, Aquinas, and Aristotle have al used infinite regress arguments to justify things in morality or negate inferential knowledge. So what are they?
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Why take life seriously? Despite common beliefs, the answer is not obvious. Do we really have a good reason to take life seriously? And if so, are there any good reasons to not take life seriously? Lets think this through
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As humans, we have a tendency to follow cultural autopilots, even when they are detrimental to our well-being. That’s not a fruitful habit. And we can learn how to stop doing so by looking those who don’t do so: Elon Musk. We can learn to drive manual.
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Humans delight in discourse; we derive immense pleasure from the particular sounds of others. As each word reverberates through our eardrums, a sense of familiarity and security sweeps broadly overtop our being. Like a young child who frolics merrily through fields of blossomed daisies, conversation is a means by which we obviate the vicissitudes of life and indulge our inner sense of play.
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The Münchhausen trilemma is a problem in the branch of philosophy known as epistemology; the Münchhausen trilemma, also known as Agrippa’s trilemma, reveals that any theory of knowledge cannot be certain and that all beliefs are unjustified. In other words, justified beliefs, which are beliefs founded on reason and logic, cannot be obtained, as the Münchhausen trilemma demonstrates the impossibility of justified premises.
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Some chairs have three legs rather than four. Some vehicles have two wheels rather than four. And some humans traits are artsy rather than social. But, as with the three legged chair or two wheeled vehicle, artsy traits are uncommon, and that makes Steve Jobs all the more interesting.
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Beauty, the a marvel to ponder and a sight to see; beauty can be found in nearly everything. From mathematical formalisms to poetry of all sorts, beauty resides in multiple forms. But of the vastness of it all, beauty can be boiled down into two broad categories, of which I shall expound upon.
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Humans have a terminal illness that plagues them throughout their lifespan. It plagues them in their social life, robbing them from friends; it plagues them in their private lives, robbing them from memories; and it plagues them from a decent living, as it likewise robs them from health. What is this terminal illness?
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Kanye West is a modern day celebrity who causes me great anxiety. He causes me anxiety for three reasons: he has incoherent beliefs, he has delusions of grandeur, and he’s socially unaware. These cause me anxiety because we all have them, even if we are unwilling to admit it. And so, Kanye is a walking billboard that obsessively reminds me about the shortcomings of not only my self but also humanity.
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Life is cyclic. Our daily routines and habits are circular; we repeat each throughout the days of the week, the weeks of the year, and the years of our life. But does life change? Yes. Life changes, and there are 3 ways how people respond to change. We can resist, ignore, or participate in the changes of life. Which we choose is up to us, but life indeed changes; and so, choose we must.
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Humans are ugly; both men and women are ugly. We can know that humans are ugly, all without asking the question: am I ugly? The reason why humans are ugly is because our value systems have clear contradictions within them. That is, evolutionary standards of beauty and higher-order standards of beauty conflict with one another, a conflict which leads can lead us to conclude humans are ugly.
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Will Beyoncé Noels die? The question cannot be answered as straightforwardly as one thinks, as modern transhumanist movements seem to think digital immortality will become a viable option in the near future when it comes anti-aging. Indeed, it seems she might very well become immortal, as she has become digitally distributed across the entire planet. So, will she die?
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Kim Kardashian is ugly, and so is Kant. Yet, both have perfected two distinct forms of human beauty: namely, external and internal beauty. Herein, I explained the distinction between external and internal beauty, and how they relate to Kim Kardashian and Kant. Then and only then can we see how ugly and beautiful the two of them really are.
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Anxiety can be understood from numerous perspectives, but some of such perspectives fail to adequately characterize the experience of anxiousness its self. As such, I herein offer a literary analysis of anxiety, so that some may more thoroughly understand its nature.
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To be alive is to not only want fulfillment but is likewise to want pain. We lovers of life are lovers of pain as much as we are lovers of joy; we have a sickness. We willingly subject ourselves to periods of anxiety and pain, those dreadful low points of our lives, all so that we may experience the euphoric high of happiness. We are drug addicts.
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You don’t understand facts. In the west, we seem to think facts and values are distinct, but that is simply wrong. Here’s why.
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We all want love in life; to be yearned after, to feel welcomed, to be the opposite of rejected. But few of us know what love even looks like, yet alone what kind of love we so yearn for. So what be love?
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We all behave some way or another in our lives, whether it be healthy or otherwise. But seldom ever reflect on these behaviours, which is unfortunate as our behaviours say a lot about our values. Though many don’t, we shall. That is, in this essay, we shall reflect upon the behaviours and values of sadists, and examine how their values relate to their behaviours. Read on to learn more about sadism.
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Life can be many things. But the thing which it be depends on the approach we take towards it. A confident person will take more risks and be more domineering over life, whereas the passive person will be more tranquil and consuming of life. There are also various combinations found in between. But what of a life wherein which we adopt a mature attitude towards being, what would that look like?
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Proper names have been hotly debated within the philosophy of language and linguistics. People, in their attempts to account for what proper names are, have constructed numerous theories; in fact, this debate can go all the way back to Mill’s theory of names. Within the modern times, there are two theories, namely, the descriptivist and causal chain theory. In this article, I discuss each theory. As well, I discuss John Searle’s critique of those theories, provide my own critique, and offer a new approach for the problem of proper names.
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A short essay on the necessity of making one’s self vulnerable in order to have a healthy, rich, and lasting relationship.
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Moral luck: when an agent partakes in, regardless of a positive or negative outcome, some some action or is involved in some event that occurred by mere chance or circumstance. In example, when a child is struck by a car because a driver was distracted by some rare event that unfolded on the radio, the driver is said to be morally unlucky. In such an example of moral luck, both ethicists and legal scholars have to think carefully about moral luck and the role it plays in legal responsibility and moral culpability. So how do they do it?
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The future of human social life is going to have more and more social media based interactions. Therefore, we need to develop a philosophy of social media. I attempt to develop such a framework here.
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How do laws benefit society? What are the advantages of law? These questions, though often taken for granted in public discourse, require some explanation. Why do we have laws?
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Why are laws so important, anyways? Read why these 3 reasons demonstrate the importance of law, to the point where a lawless society seems incoherent.
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What does philosophy tell us about soccer? Soccer is a sport which involves intentional action, collective intentionality, and culturally bound frames. With these ideas, we can create the philosophy of soccer.
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Laws are not objective, but they’re also not arbitrary. I provide an in-depth analysis of how to interpret laws, and the problems faced when doing legal interpretation.
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A detailed, easy-to-read, and short summary of how the legislative branch is structured, what the purpose of legislation is, and how legislation is created.
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The U.S. Judicial system is quite complex and full of nuance. There are distinctions between trial and appellate courts, and there are also distinctions between federal and state judiciaries. Learn those differences.
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A short-overview of the functions and purpose of judicial law, and how the judiciary serves society.
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Recent research in neurophysiology and cognition entail major implications for schizophrenia treatment. Music might lead to less hallucinations and more white matter.
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The Philosophy of error, as Kant views it, is wrong. He presents an oversimplified view of natural things, which leads to his error.
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In the philosophy of language and linguistics, there is a theory of description which is naive at best. Here are the criticisms of the theory of description.
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A warrior knows of his actions and why he commits them, and he is also able to see his wounds and blood. But a trauma victim neither knows their motivations nor their wounds: they are blind to the scars visible to others.
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Normative Philosophy: is it acceptable? Some think not; however, I argue otherwise in this post.
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We often conflate, in an ever so solipsistic fashion, our own view of the world for the world its self. There are reasons for such.
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At present moment, the world is on fire. Our innocence, industry, and future are being consumed by roaring flames.
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Life can be harsh on the human constitution; it can bring us to our lowest and likewise to our highest. But in doing so, we must ask, is life fair?
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What is creativity? Such is hard to say, but we can start with the drunken man who walks the streets at night.
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The question is asked a lot: is economics a science? And quite frankly, a lot of people show their bias when trying to answer. There are a few simple reasons as to why economics is a science.
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How do we know what science is? In general, every science follows a few essential principles; of which are observation, explanation, prediction, and falsifiability. These are the four principles that contribute to creating a science.
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Moral Philosophy has died in the west, and intellectuals killed it.
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The reason why you dated your crazy ex is right in front of you, but you probably missed it. Read why..
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John searle lays out a theory of how speech acts work, and we explore it in more detail here.
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Some sentences make sense even when they shouldn’t. So what gives? how do humans process natural language?
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There are two types of readers in the world; there are applied and pure readers. Each has their own purpose for reading, and each has their own pros and cons.
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Our society will face this problem soon, and so it is important to discuss now: should humans marry machines?
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Why did people buy all that Nutella? And how can we explain it?
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Frege, a philosopher and mathematician, has done great things. But, like all greats, is far from perfection.
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Complex systems, like economies, require common mediums of exchange, like money, to increase their efficiency.
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Sometimes, what we think and what we say don’t necessarily line-up. When this happens, word meaning changes. Lets find out why.
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Adam Smith praised specialization; however, was he entirely correct in doing so? read on to find out.
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How do words relate to another? In this article, we will discuss vital distinctions to know for any competent linguist.
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;Adam Smith has some important lessons to teach us about Artificial Intelligence. His discussion on the division of labour seems to suggest general AI is the wrong way to go.
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Frequently, people will conflate the views of sociobiology with evolutionary psychology, and misunderstand the level of analysis that evolutionary psychology operates on. Learn the differences here.
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There is a traditional view of love that perhaps nearly everyone is familiar with: namely, the love of a particular. Lets see why this view is wrong.
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In this essay, I discuss the dangers of conflating consumption with human psychology, something Adam Smith does in his wealth of nations.
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Thus, it is my intent to analyze religious thought through the lens of cognitive linguistics; to apply the research and theories of that academic discipline to the language and ideas of religion. In particular, we shall consider how image schemas and conceptual metaphors contribute to our understanding of a specific religious idea; that being, the idea that God is everything, an omnipotent mind which is spread throughout all of existence.
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The future is cannot bring us happiness, only the present can.
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Happiness in the future is a delusion, it only comes from present.
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University punishes critical thought and free intellectual thought, especially if its creative.
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In the study of Psychology, there is a separation between everyday psychological language and scientific language. The difference in these two modes of language stems from the scientific conception of term-meaning and the layperson’s conception of term meaning. Indeed, there is a separation between the two, and many do not realize it because common sense psychology is composed of our natural intuitions about ourselves and others.
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Philosophy, when taken too literally, can create useless problems of metaphysics. Read how philosophy creates useless problems.
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Society is nothing but numbers to the eyes of higher ups
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An essay about the relationship between words, meaning, and brains.
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The Philosophy of language, which consists of many schools of thought concerned with the investigation of language, has become increasingly popular over the years. Because of such, the field has already experienced two major paradigm shifts and plenty of contentious debates within the lifetimes of its proponents. However, despite the growth in popularity and rapid introduction of new ideas, the growth in interdisciplinary perspectives inside this area of language investigation has yet to occur. Among the many debates and ideas about language, a lack of consideration about the neural and cognitive processes involved in language is quite evident.
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An essay that explores the biological roots to conflict, and how it is that those biological roots interact with culture to make conflict inevitable.
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the phenomenology of meditation, and what it teaches us about philosophy
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Humans, among many, are exemplary models of herd animals; we live in various social groups, assign one another social roles, and often follow a variety social mores and norms.
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A short essay on the relationship between schizophrenia and crime. Are schizophrenia and criminality linked?
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Despite what one might typically think, not only are all human relationships chemically reinforced, but they are an act of self love. This is because our brains construct reality….read more.
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A short essay about the similarities found between a mind and a book.
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A short essay about edgar allen poe and the nature of existence.
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Governments aren’t after your vote, they’re after your imagination, which will get them your vote. This post explains how imaginations influence what we think about the future, and so influence who we follow, and how this is used in politics and media.
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