JTW Podcast: Current Philosophy, Part III: Epistemology, Perception, and Science

 In today’s podcast we conclude Professor Dave’s final series on philosophy . . . although we might find another one of his series we like (he knows a lot of stuff).  Again, as we noted last week, this three-part series covers what is happening today in the world of philosophy, and so what the Aristotelian-Thomists of the Just Third Way can expect when dialoging with others outside the JTW paradigm.  As Professor Dave says, “Continuing through a survey of current ideas in philosophy, we reach some newer work in epistemology, perception, and the philosophy of science. Let's take a look at some ideas from John McDowell, Alvin Goldman, Ernest Sosa, Robert Audi, Helen Longino, Miranda Fricker, Joshua Knobe, Jonathan Haidt, and more!”:

News from the Network, Vol. 19, No. 08

  There have been some interesting developments this week . . . although we were hoping for “positive” and “hopeful” rather than merely “interesting.”  Be that as it may, these are worth bringing to your attention, although possibly not as worthwhile as adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Inflation Indexing and the EDA

    An article in last week’s Yahoo! Finance, “Inflation slowed in January as consumer prices rise 2.4% over prior year to start 2026,” noted the rate of inflation had, well, slowed in January.  Of course, there is the small issue that there are at least two different kinds of inflation, cost-push and demand-pull.

JTW Podcast: Current Philosophy, Part II: Logic, Language, and Knowledge

 In today’s podcast we continue Professor Dave’s final series on philosophy.  As we noted last week, this three-part series covers what is happening today in the world of philosophy, and so what the Aristotelian-Thomists of the Just Third Way can expect when dialoging with others outside the JTW paradigm.  As Professor Dave says, “We just examined some aspects of current philosophy around the field of ethics. Now let's check out some developments in terms of our study of logic, language, and knowledge. This will involve looking at figures like Saul Kripke, Jerry Fodor, Ruth Millikan, Karl-Otto Apel, and others.”:

News from the Network, Vol. 19, No. 07

On the one hand, the so-called experts keep telling us the economy is doing great.  On the other hand, we keep hearing how individuals and families are worse off than before.  On the other, other hand, we hear about the “K-shaped economy” that explains matters . . . sort of.  On the other, other, other hand . . . forget it.  Just push for the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act so we have something positive to talk about in this news report:

Kelso v. Keynes on Money

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, many people seem to confuse God and money, as well as religion and finance.  This, in the modern age suffused with what people like Mortimer J. Adler have delicately referred to as “philosophical mistakes,” is a disaster, whether the result of Belloc’s purported accusation of “knavish imbecility,” unthinking self-interest, or deliberate and considered villainy.

JTW Podcast: Current Philosophy, Part I: Ethics and Critical Theory

 Today we begin the final series on philosophy by “Professor Dave” (who knows a lot of stuff, according to his tag line and theme song).  This three-part series covers what is happening today in the world of philosophy, and so what the Aristotelian-Thomists of the Just Third Way can expect when dialoging with others outside the JTW paradigm.  As Professor Dave says, “After studying the history of philosophy and logic for quite some time, we have finally made it to present day. What are some important topics in current philosophy? Let's begin to answer this question by first examining ethics, and something called critical theory.”:

News from the Network, Vol. 19, No. 06

What is going on in the Just Third Way and related areas around the world?  Your guess is as good as ours.  We only know what we read in the paper . . . if there are any of those left, that is.  Does anyone read newspapers anymore?  One news item we would like to see but haven’t yet is to see some country adopt: the Economic Democracy Act:

How to Understand Money

    In the introduction to one of his satiric songs written for the late, great show That Was the Week That Was (“TW3”) performed and recorded at the late, great “Hungry I” nightclub in San Francisco (the one that closed in 1970, not the strip club that replaced it . . . sort of), the late, great Tom Lehrer made the obvious and characteristic (“Seldom has any point to make except the obvious”) ironic comment that his Christmas Carol celebrated what everyone deeply and sincerely believes in: Money.  Of course, St. Paul made a similar comment in one or other of his letters to somebody or other, that love of money is the root of all evil.

JTW Podcast: Logical Fallacies, Part II: Most Commonly Used Fallacies

 This week we conclude our look at people’s favorite way of arguing today: the logical fallacy.   Again, this should be very useful for proponents of the Just Third Way — both to show them what to avoid and what to expect.  As Professor Dave says, “We just learned about formal and informal fallacies. Now it's time to go through a list of the most common types of fallacies, so that we can be familiar with as many of them as possible. These would be things like the No True Scotsman fallacy, ad populum fallacy, ad hominem, poisoning the well, genetic fallacy, begging the question, straw man fallacy, and many others. Let's see how many we can get through!”: