Pilgrims's Process

The chapter I’m reading deals with a highly-nuanced view of akrasia in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.

Reading and outlining it takes a lot of effort (and about 20-25 min per page), and I’m not fully following the argument yet.

However, it’s like riding a stationary bike – it doesn’t go anywhere, but I’m getting really good exercise.

You know a book is going to be “good” when its Amazon.com listing looks like this.

Well, back to the hamster wheel…

Two questions:

1. Why am I so tired and it’s not even 9:00 pm?
2. How do I carefully read philosophy when I feel so sleepy?

My goal is to make it through an article on practical reasoning before I count sheep.

In reading an article today, I saw a quote that described the grace of God as “radical and shocking.” Why not describe the grace of God in a way that those adjectives will be applied by the reader?

It seems we get a lot of this in marketing:

• “An amazing offer”
• “Exceptional service”
• “World-class results”

Wouldn’t it be better if you told your story in such a way that people knew your product or service was compelling and remarkable without you telling them it was?

What joke is improved by it being prefaced with telling someone it’s funny?

Well, an ironic one, I guess, but then I wouldn’t preface that with “I’m going to be ironic, ready?”

Are adjectives a lazy way to communicate?

After several calls to CSULA’s hypertension-inducing automated phone registration system, I am now ready to begin taking classes.

Kim and I decided that one class for the first quarter would probably be best as I’m still adjusting to my new job. Also, I’m a little out of the game, so to speak. I was going to take two classes: symbolic logic and a seminar in ancient philosophy. I decided on the latter. The seminar will address practical reasoning in Aristotle’s ethics.

So, next week, armed with the complete works of Aristotle, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy and my computer I will finally begin my Master’s degree. I feel somewhat quixotic about this, as if I should head off towards both class and the sunset with my satchel…

I’m sure the reality of the situation will sink in soon. But, until then, “La mejor salsa del mundo es el hambre”

It’s easy to get distracted by words.

When I talk with someone, sometimes I miss both the heart of the issue and the heart of the person.
It’s easy to succumb to someone’s verbal defense; however, something I have difficulty remembering is clever and articulate words may merely be a smokescreen. People may argue for what they don’t believe (or don’t realize they don’t believe), and they may do so confidently.

“[Jesus] doesn’t answer the question because that’s not the question. Those are the words. The real question was the questioner. Jesus has this incredible way of not being distracted by words. He answered the questioner. And if we can do that too, we do his work. That’s the only way we can do his work, by talking to the real person inside, not the mask and the tongue and the words that the person manipulates.” – Peter Kreeft p. 91 Two Tasks of the Christian Scholar

“Everyone answers truthfully in their own mind” – Dr. Thom Wolf