Amateur Philosophers' Club

Though we end where we began, we begin now with all we've ended with.

As we conclude the chapter on the metaphysical question of God we look at the two major objections to God's existence as well as St Anselm's Ontological Argument and other arguments for God's existence. 

Continuing our consideration of being as such, we move from being to Being as we explore the source and plenitude of all being, and how we can philosophically respond to the question of God, a question which, like its answer, is ever-ancient, ever-new.

Being as existence and essence, substance and accident, act and potency. 

What can we say ... of everything that is?

Beyond the quality and quantity of things lies their very being. And their having being is what they have in common with all things that are. But what can we know and say about being? This is the quest of the science of metaphysics.

This week we take a closer a look at nature, that is, the natural world around us and the natures of things that make it up. We also explore the four causes that account for those things. 

In this episode we read and chat about Crito, a Socratic dialogue by Plato. In the dialogue, Crito offers his friend Socrates a means of escaping his impending execution. Socrates invites Crito into a conversation about whether this would be a just action or not.  

What is society? Where does it come from? What's it for? And is there a limit as to what it's laws should be about?

Today we look at the virtue of justice, which it turns out is not so much about getting what is mine as it is about giving to others what is rightfully theirs. 

In this episode we look at some of the habits we can develop that help us towards happiness, such as: right judgement in making right choices, harmonious self-control over our lower appetites and the strength of character to stand up for what is right and good in the face of physical and social dangers. 

This week we take a look at what virtue actually means and why a virtues-based ethic is the most encompassing and satisfying approach to morality.

This week we take a closer look at moral relativism, the natural moral law and conscience. 

What is the purpose of human life and what does a fulfilled and complete human life look like?

This week we look at the metaphysical and practical problems of a merely materialist worldview and the metaphysical and practical arguments for the immortality of the soul.Here is a link to the book mentioned in the episode: https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Christian-Apologetics-Peter-Kreeft/dp/0830817743 

What is a soul? What has a soul? And what can we know about the soul by the use of reason?

This week we look at what the next level of love and friendship looks like.

Beyond "freedom from" and more even than "freedom to" the real question is: what is "freedom for"?

In this episode we work our way from fear to freedom, looking a little deeper into our basic desires and appetites. 

So we've looked at what knowing is and how we know, now we look at how we know if what we know is what is?

So how do you know what you know? And how do you know you know what you know? Ya know?

So what do we know about knowing? And when we know, is what is known in what is known or in who knows or neither? 

Between man and beast, is there any difference that makes much of a difference? Or are we pretty much the same kind of thing?

In this episode we take a break from getting to know the professionals and get to know the amateurs a little better.

Aristotle brought the ideas of Plato back down to earth and there found solutions to the questions that had landed his forebears in opposing ideas. 

In the world of ideas, Plato's ideas made a world of difference to the world and ideas (though he was more interested in the latter then the former).

An excerpt from Meno, one of the Socratic Dialogues written by Plato. In this dialogue Socrates tries to get Meno to explain to him what virtue is. 

If there was one thing that Socrates knew to be true it was that he didn't know everything ... and if there's one philosopher worth knowing (and imitating) it's this humble seeker of truth.

Seeking the truth is overrated. Rather just persuade people to believe what you want them to believe ... Or so the Sophists thought.

So change is a pretty apparent reality, and a pretty mysterious one too. And if you think about it for long enough it makes you ask some pretty big questions like: When things change, what changes? And what stays the same? Is anything around us stable? Is everything around us stable? These are some of the questions that some of those early Greek thinkers asked too, and they came up with some pretty interesting answers.

So where do you begin when you're trying to understand everything?Well when philosophy first began, the first philosophers began by looking at the world around them and asking themselves: Is all this stuff made up of the same stuff? And if it is, what's the stuff that makes it all up?

What is philosophy anyway? And is it worth your time? In this episode we look at what makes philosophy unique and how we're all in fact amateur philosophers.