When faced with questions about how one should live, most people begin by exploring answers within the settled norms and conventions that already frame their lives. The conventions we live by are familiar and thus seem right even when life throws curveballs at us, even when we swing and miss. To look for answers outsideContinue reading “Norms, Critique, and the Double Mind”
Tag Archives: rationality
What Does it Mean to Lead a Philosophical Life?
To lead a philosophical life is to live a life devoted to reason—to live in accordance with one’s own deep and comprehensive understanding of how one’s life can be most fully lived. This is not about accepting a text or set of principles as authoritative. One must be committed to one’s own process of reasoningContinue reading “What Does it Mean to Lead a Philosophical Life?”
Changing Minds and Fluid Identities
There is a good deal of public discussion, prompted by our political situation and challenges surrounding Covid19, about whether citing facts is effective at getting people to change their minds. Many people argue that facts aren’t sufficient—one must appeal to emotions in order to be persuasive. But I think this isn’t quite true. Facts canContinue reading “Changing Minds and Fluid Identities”
Philosophy: A Way of Life 