Idea: One function of imagination is to help us get into a particular (kind of) attitude. Imagination is important — even fundamental — to human…
Imagination for Attitudes
Posted in Friendly Philosophy
Category: Friendly Philosophy
Did you know that we philosophers only ask four questions? Did you know that by learning how to ask these four questions, you too can…
The Analytic Approach to Refuting Someone Else’s Theory “Sally’s theory claims that p. But if you look at the following minor and/or fanciful details (see…
Kant’s Categorical Imperative and the Golden, Silver, and Platinum Rules
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Theology, and Thinking Out Loud
I. The Rules Everyone Knows A. The Two “Normal” Rules A lot of people confuse the Golden Rule with the Silver Rule. Here’s the Golden…
[Y]ou must translate every bit of your Theology into the vernacular. This is very troublesome and it means you can say very little in half…
Why the Problem of Evil Is Incoherent
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, and Theology
My first article on Conciliar Post: http://www.conciliarpost.com/philosophy/why-the-problem-of-evil-is-incoherent-2/ In it, I argue that on the standard philosophical view of the Abrahamic God, there theodicies are helpful, but…
Top 40 Philosophy: TLC, “Creep”
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Music, and Top 40 Philosophy
TLC had the #2 and #3 songs for 1995. We’ve already covered “Waterfalls,” (which argued — against the year’s #1 song, “Gangsta’s Paradise” — that…
Top 40 Philosophy: Notorious B.I.G., “Big Poppa/Warning”
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Music, and Top 40 Philosophy
Background If people know anything about rap, it’s that there’s some kind of feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers. Or, at least, there…
It’s Time for Rupert Murdoch to Grow Up
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, and Society
In response to the recent events in France, Rupert Murdoch tweeted that Muslims “must be held responsible” for what he called “their growing jihadist cancer.”…
Top 40 Philosophy: Live, “Lightning Crashes”
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Music, and Top 40 Philosophy
At the end of February, 1995, Live’s “Lightning Crashes” kicked Green Day’s “When I Come Around” out of the #1 spot on Billboard’s Alternative Songs…
We (Kind of) Have a Legal Right to Freedom of Speech Freedom of speech is guaranteed in the US by the 1st Ammendment to our…
Top 40 Philosophy: Green Day, “When I Come Around”
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Music, and Top 40 Philosophy
Green Day’s “When I Come Around” went #1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart, the first week of January, 1995. It stayed there for seven…
Top 40 Philosophy: Coolio (ft. L.V.), “Gangsta’s Paradise”
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Music, and Top 40 Philosophy
It is a truth universally acknowledged that you should always talk about music from twenty years ago. Since it is now 2015, that means we…
Year-End Top 10s: Top 40 Philosophy (nos. 5-1)
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Music, and Top 40 Philosophy
One last hurrah! Yesterdy we covered the first half of the Top 10 “Top 40 Philosophy” posts from 2014. Today, to begin 2015, we have…
Year-End Top 10s: Top 40 Philosophy (nos. 10-6)
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Music, and Top 40 Philosophy
Over the past two days, we brought you the top 10 non-musical posts from 2014. Now it’s time for the Top 10 “Top 40 Philosophy”…
Year-End Top 10s: Philosophical Musings (nos. 5-1)
Posted in Friendly Philosophy, Society, and Theology
Today we have 2014’s top 5 “Pure Philosophy” posts, as determined by the absolutely objective criteria of how strongly I feel about them. (And by…
It’s time to count down the top 10 posts from this past year! We, however, are going to do two different top 10s. First, we’ll…