Guy C. Stevenson, Guest Blogger
It is being touted as a groundbreaking achievement . . . it is, however, neither groundbreaking nor really much of an achievement. Recently, Michael and Susan Dell pledged over $6 billion to fund the “Trump Accounts,” as the proposed government-backed savings program for children are being labeled.
Today, we present Part 1 of Professor Dave’s talk on Contemporary Ethics, “The Birth of Metaethics.” As Professor Dave says, “Until the 20th century, discussions of ethics had been centered around Aristotle's virtue ethics, the Kantian/Platonic deontology, or the utilitarian model known as consequentialism. But in the early 1900s, the field of metaethics was born, which was a novel manner to identify how we can discuss ethical subjects in general. What was metaethics all about, and what innovations did it bring? Let's find out!”:
It’s astonishing how each week’s news items resemble those of the previous week . . . Not. The simple fact is that this is going to keep up until the powers-that-be adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
Last week we took a look at a book with a hook in a nook with a cook. That in itself is not unusual, even without a visit from Dr. Suess. We read a lot of books. We even write a lot of books.
Today, wondering what happened to Part 2 of Professor Dave’s talk on Epistemology, we present his talk on “More on Language and Meaning in Analytic Philosophy.” As Professor Dave says, “We've already talked about the linguistic turn in analytic philosophy, so let's return to this school and learn about some more figures in this tradition that followed after Wittgenstein. This will include Donald Davidson, Peter Strawson, and Herbert Peter Grice”:
Although “May you live in interesting times” is probably not an ancient Chinese curse (although it should be), events this week are both interesting and a bit cursed, if that isn’t tangling syntax a bit too much. In any event, the solution to many of the issues and problems we note this week is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
Recently, a Faithful Reader sent us a copy of “Disappeared to a Foreign Prison” by Sarah Stillman, from the November 24, 2025, issue of The New Yorker. No, this is not a commentary on the New Yorker article, but on a few thoughts that bubbled up as we read the article.
Today, we present Part 1 of Professor Dave’s talk on Epistemology. As Professor Dave says, “Having gotten a sense of the continental and analytic traditions in contemporary philosophy, we are ready to examine advancements in the field of epistemology that occurred around that time. Let's see how Willard Quine, Wilfrid Sellars, Edmund Gettier, and Hilary Putnam contributed to this progress.”:
One of these days we hope to have some good news to report, but until someone among the powers-that-be wise up and push for the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act:, we have a sneaking suspicion we won’t be reporting too much good news:
In the first and third parts of this article we — or rather our guest blogger Guy Stevenson — asked questions. In Part I the question was, “Why do I exist?” In Part III, the question was, “What is social justice?” Today Guy gives Fulton Sheen’s version of “The Maker’s Answer.”
Today, we present Part 3 of Professor Dave’s talk on analytic philosophy. As Professor Dave says, “Continuing with analytic philosophy, after the Vienna Circle had its influence, the tradition continued and grew into several new areas, inspired largely from Wittgenstein and other prominent figures. John L. Austin developed his theory of meaning through speech acts. Noam Chomsky developed his concept of universal grammar. Let's learn about this and more!”:
This week’s news items seem strangely familiar yet at the same time surreal. Still, the constant theme is how much better most people’s lives could very well be if we would adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
Last week we looked at the question of “justice as love.” This week we look at the question of “social justice”. This will baffle many people today, because they think they have already answered the question, and the answer they have is that something called “social justice” replaces and transcends both justice and charity as traditionally understood.
Today, we return to a sequential order and present the second part of Professor Dave’s talk on continental philosophy. As Professor Dave says, “Pivoting back to continental philosophy, we must discuss a very important movement in this tradition, and that is the Frankfurt School. This group utilized the ideas of Marx and Freud to advance the field, led by figures like Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. Let's see what they were all about!”:
They always say it’s always darkest before the dawn, although who this “they” are can be a trifle vague at times. In any event, it is easy to see in many of the news items reported this week how the Economic Democracy Act would be of immense benefit:
In Part I of this article, we looked at the question, “Why do I exist?” as answered by the legendary Fulton Sheen. Admittedly, Sheen’s answer was framed within a specific philosophy and religious faith, but that takes nothing away from its universality. To summarize, the meaning and purpose of life is to become more fully human by conforming yourself to human nature.
Today, we present the first part of Professor Dave’s talk on analytic philosophy. This breaks the sequence a bit, but we think there must be a reason Professor Dave presented the lectures in this particular order. In any event, as Professor Dave says, “Pivoting from the continental tradition, let's introduce the analytic tradition that also emerged at the beginning of contemporary philosophy. This involved figures such as John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, and Alfred Whitehead. What were they all about, and how did they differ from the continental philosophers?”:
Boo. Happy Halloween, whatever a “happy” Halloween consists of. You want something really scary, though, take a look at today’s economy without the Economic Democracy Act:
If we believe media hype and the typical behavior of other people, the answer to the question as to the meaning and purpose of life is to be better, have more, or do more than someone else. If we believe philosophers and spiritual leaders, however, we tend to come up with a different response, and one that argues a fundamentally different orientation than treating other people as either competition or accomplices.
Today, we present the first part of Professor Dave’s talk on continental philosophy. As Professor Dave says, “With modern philosophy covered, let's cross over into contemporary philosophy. And let's begin by introducing the continental tradition in this time period. This included philosophers like Husserl, Bergson, Heidegger, and Jaspers. Let's see what they were all about!”:
Rising national debt, job loss, AI bubble . . . is there any good news this week? Yes — the good news is that there is a solution: the Economic Democracy Act:
We may have mentioned one or two dozen (or hundred) times how much we like it when people ask us questions we can answer and then use as a posting on this blog. What we like even better is when someone takes the bull between the teeth or the bit by the horns and writes the entire blog posting for us, with only a little bit of editing and formatting to make it fit our needs.
Today, we present Professor Dave’s talk on logic in late modern philosophy. As Professor Dave says, “How did logic continue to develop as the modern period in philosophy progressed? Mill and Comte discussed the inverse deductive method. But then a huge figure arose, George Boole. He innovated new logical symbology that got us closer to reducing logic to pure mathematics. Then Peirce developed abductive or retroductive logic. Let's get a closer look at these figures now!”:
Believe it or not, there is an alternative to debt and taxes . . . it’s debt or taxes, and for a government, it’s better to go with taxes and live within its means as proposed in the Economic Democracy Act: