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I studied Western philosophy for a few years as a younger man.  I recall a graduate course on metaphysics, delivered by Henry B. Veatch, one the most widely published and decorated American philosophers of his time. It would be incorrect to call Veath a “showman,” but, trust me, no one fell asleep listening to him speak.

Metaphysics is defined as “the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.”  All this sounds fine, until we consider that most of these ideas are now more properly the domain of science.

Yes, Kant told us that space and time are “forms of our intuition,” but in the 21st Century, we’re more answer questions on this subject via references to Einstein or Schoedinger.

Aristotle, on the most important early metaphysicians, explained that “to be is to be a substance,” but nowadays, if we want to understand the fundamental building blocks of the universe, we turn to theoretical physicists.

For better or for worse, the heyday of philosophy seems to be behind us.

Philosophy Isn’t What it Once Was

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Renewable Energy

Indoctrinating Children into Religion

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All I can say about the me here is that personally I refused, against considerable pressure from my family, to indoctrinate my children into something I myself could not accept.

Is it actually “psychological abuse” to indoctrinate children into monotheistic religion?  Whether to take it that far is an open question.

My parents, both atheists, sent my brother and me to Sunday School, as they thought it wrong to cut us off from a modality of growing up in America in the early 1960s.  I don’t blame them, but again, it’s not something I was willing to replicate with my own children.

Indoctrinating Children into Religion

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Renewable Energy

Republicans’ Last-Ditch Effort to Lie to Voters

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In less than a month, we’re going to learn how many idiots are buying this socialism crap.

Sure, there are people who don’t know anything about the way people live in northern England, New Zealand, Costa Rica, etc.  Most of these people couldn’t find these countries on this globe.

But how many can there possibly be?

Clearly, Republicans are desperate, but isn’t asking voters to believe that the Swedes have to rely on the government for their job, salary, and food a bit over-the-top?

Republicans’ Last-Ditch Effort to Lie to Voters

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America in Collapse

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I got the meme here from a neighbor, but I wonder who actually wrote it.  There is a ton of propaganda on social media suggesting that we need to normalize the sociopathic criminality of the U.S. president.

It’s true that not every election is an apocalypse, but 2024 was disastrous for the U.S. democracy.

Yes, the country did not end.  But it took a giant leap towards authoritarianism.

Even that’s not the end of the world.  Democracies fail with great frequency on this planet.  I just never thought I’d be living in the biggest socio-political collapse in the last 2000 years.

In an average week, I meet quite a few travelers here from lands all around this planet.  Their most common thoughts on what’s happening here: “We simply feel sorry for you.”

America in Collapse

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