Category: Discussions
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The Banality of Evil
The banality of evil is a saying that has been made famous by 20th century philosopher Hannah Arendt in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem. Ever since then it has been used by many people for their own purposes. But as with every term that gets thrown around loosely (like fascism for example), it is hard…
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Nietzsche and the Creation of Values
Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most famous philosophers of the 19th century. He was influenced by Schopenhauer, Plato and Kant. He exclaimed the death of God and the birth of the Overman. Because of his sister, he became associated with Nazism and fascism. But whatever you make of him, he is one of the…
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The Concept of Freedom
I just finished reading Freedom: An Unruly History by Annelien De Dijn. In this book De Dijn gives the history of the concept of freedom. What does freedom mean? What is freedom exactly? What is our concept of freedom? These are some of the questions she tackles in this book, with great expertise. The first…
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On Not Liking People Because of Their Ideas
When countries become polarized there is always one key characteristic. People don’t like people of the other side. This actually has a name. It’s called partyism. It is discrimination based upon the party one votes for. In the USA that would mean that democrats don’t like republicans, just because they are republicans and vice versa.…
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On the Impossibility for a Relativist to be a Pragmatist
A couple of weeks ago, I got into a discussion with a friend about the idea of relativism and pragmatism. More specifically, the impossibility for a relativist to be a pragmatist. I believed it to be impossible for a relativist to be a pragmatist. But our conversation ended, and I kept thinking about it, so…
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Philosophy as a Way of Life
Nowadays philosophy is seen as just an academic discipline for which you get a degree and then you have a certain set of skills to use in the workspace. But in the ancient times philosophy was something a lot different. Philosophy wasn’t just some subject to study, it was a way of life. Studying philosophy…
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I Read 101 Books in 2020
So yeah, 2020 was a sucky year. But at least I was able to read a lot. Not that there was much else to do being inside all the time. I wanted to read 50 books this year. Last year I read 38 books and I was like: hmmm, maybe this year I’ll be able…
Elenchus Philosophy 