What is a Polity?
Classically speaking, the term Polity means “a state” (a group of people under a single social contract), but it also implies an “ideal state” (a Kallipolis).
Philosophy and Thinking
Thinking is a mental process which allows humans to model the world, philosophy is the attempt to understand the world using logic and reason. The world being both the external and the internal, and both the knowable and unknowable.
For an overview of philosophy see our branches of philosophy page, for an introduction to philosophy check out Reason at Work (Amazon). Philosophy includes everything from economic and political philosophies, to the philosophies of emotions and mind, to cosmological and other other metaphysical questions, to the nature of god and religion, to the very nature of what we can know. Given that every subject has a science and philosophy (with the two often merging, such is the case in theoretical physics or mathematics) we have to be careful not to undervalue the practical aspects of this non-science.
The Spheres of Human Understanding
All knowledge, all human understanding, can be said to be of four types: physical (empirical), logical (reason), ethical (philosophy in-action), and metaphysical (pure philosophy).
Giving Names to Concepts
We discuss “giving names to concepts” (defining terms), identifying with terms, be identified by terms, and the implications of this.
The Political Left and Right are Naturally Occurring Fact
What we call the political left and right are an outgrowth of liberty and the human condition. Once people are free to express themselves, they will create a left and right (because left and right are a reflection of human nature). This is essentially true for any issue or debate, be it national politics, a local community issue or even a family or other small group issue.
The Importance of Principles
Principles are, in a broad sense, simply rule-sets which we follow. Below we will discuss the importance of different types of principles.
Bringing Something Into the Light Takes Away Its Power Fact
Bringing secrets and the taboo “out of the dark and into the light”, by practicing transparency and openness rather than repression, takes away their power.
The Virtues of Political Correctness
The concept of political correctness can be understood as an excess or deficiency of a few key virtues. Here is a model of “the virtues of political correctness” based on Aristotle’s virtue theory of means.
What is Fairness? / What is Justice?
Plato’s Republic, utilitarianism, the philosophies of morality, ethics, politics, virtue, and law are all centered around one question “what is justice?” (AKA “what is fairness?”).
What is a Republic?
We discuss Republics in general including the philosophy of republics, classical and modern republicanism, and real Republics in-action.
The Economy of Words
The Economy of Words: The art of communication using all symbolic measures afforded by technology. Or, how to communicate effectively and participate in the information economy, with thrift, despite the tyranny of the terms.