It has been suggested to me on occasion that I start a thread devoted to more philosophical discussion, rather than remain hampered by opportunism on other threads. It has finally seemed a good time to try it. I do not mean this to be exclusively philosophical. Talk about art and movies and literature and such will also be welcome, as will cultural criticism and ruminations over the development of American society. But the main thrust will be to discuss the traditional areas of philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, and the like, not topical discussion. I will periodically revise the thread header to try to indicate where we are, assuming this has some staying power.
I am not making this a moderated thread, for the time being, trusting that the intention will warn participants away from being too disruptive. I am tolerant of heated discussion, just not complete chaos.
I will begin by raising a political question, since most of those recruited will be from political threads: What is the ideal towards which society ought to tend? |
