Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. I have one!https://lasierra.edu/business/team/gary-chartier/ LikeLike

In reply to Roderick T. Long. I momentarily had a fantasy of sending copies of De Officiis to all of my favorite university administrators. Luckily it went away–partly because I know it would be a waste of time, and partly because I don’t h…

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. Cicero himself says that our basic role of rational and social animal, and the duties associated therewith, should always take precedence over our social role and its duties in the event of a conflict. (With the duties impos…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. That’s a good analogy for what’s happening on campus. University administrators profess to believe in equality, diversity, and social justice, but inhabit a social role that requires them to maximize return on …

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. Indeed. Re the ambiguity: Cicero didn’t accept Aristotle’s theory of natural slavery; he endorsed a theory of universal human equality. But he accepted a (later) Stoic theory [the “later” is crucial…

Maybe, though that suggests that “adjusting” is an equivocal concept, since it potentially includes both accommodation of those in power and resistance to them. Understood univocally, I think accomodation is the more natural meaning. But understood equ…

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. The goal of adjusting calmly to your social circumstances, however malign they may be, sounds Stoic. But in fact the Stoics were statistically overrepresented among resisters to, and attempts to overthrow or assassinate, Rom…