“Aristotle’s opinion was that friends hold a mirror up to each other; through that mirror they can see each other in ways that would not otherwise be accessible to them, and it is this (reciprocal) mirroring that helps them improve themselves as persons. Friends, then, share a similar concept of eudaimonia and help each other […]
“The modern philosophical theory of love as emotion can be enhanced and informed by what biologists tell us concerning the reason for the existence of human emotions in general and the emotions accompanying love in particular, as well as what they say about the mechanisms of emotion. Shakespeare famously asked (in As You Like It): […]
“If we had kissed, it would have been the miracle to make us human in each other’s eyes. Instead we killed each other.” ––Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, pg. 322 “The compatibilist acknowledges that our actions have to be caused, and that they are limited or channeled by physical, biological, and psychological constraints. […]
“‘Why are we fighting the buggers?’ ‘I’ve heard all kinds of reasons,’ said Graff. ‘Because they have an overcrowded system and they’ve got to colonize. Because they can’t stand the thought of other intelligent life in the universe. Because they don’t think we are intelligent life. Because they have some weird religion. Because they watched […]
“‘Look at Bonzo, your old commander. He’s got an advanced case of Spanish honor. He can’t allow himself to have weaknesses. To be better than him, that’s an insult. To be stronger, that’s like cutting off his balls. That’s why he hates you, because you didn’t suffer when he tried to punish you. He hates […]
“He could see Bonzo’s anger growing hot. Hot anger was bad. Ender’s anger was cold, and he could use it. Bonzo’s was hot, and so it used him.” ––Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, pg. 87 “The tentativeness of scientific conclusions is a source of continuous inspiration to scientists, but also of perennial frustration […]
John Updike gets some extra love today because I really dig his writing. “‘Hold still. Just sit there. I see you very clear all of a sudden. You’re Mr. Death himself. You’re not just nothing, you’re worse than nothing. You’re not a rat, you don’t stink, you’re not enough to stink.’ ‘Look, I didn’t do […]
“What right did he have to go to church? What did he and God talk about behind the back of all these women exchanging winks that was the thing she minded if they’d just think about love when they make it instead of thinking about whatever they do think about––whatever they’re going to do whenever […]
“Our feelings of benevolence and sympathy are more easily aroused by specific human beings than by a large group in which no individuals stand out. People who would be horrified by the idea of stealing an elderly neighbor’s welfare check have no qualms about cheating on their income tax; men who would never punch a […]
“On the collective level, once we have begun to justify our conduct publicly, reason leads us to develop and expand our moral concerns, drawing us on toward an objective point of view. On the individual level reason is less compelling; while it leads us to see inconsistencies between our beliefs and our actions, or between […]