George Winston, RIP
I was saddened yesterday to learn (via my friend Wayne Bethanis) that pianist-composer George Winston has died. Every solo performer of original music – not just pianists but guitarists and everyone else – owes him a debt of gratitude, for he was one of the few who blazed the trail of modern instrumental music, starting…
Aristotle on Human Fulfillment
The more deeply I ponder Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia (usually translated as “happiness” or more recently sometimes as “flourishing”), the more radical it seems. For instance, we are perfectly comfortable saying things like “that basil plant is much happier since we moved it to the windowsill” or “their daughter is really flourishing in her new…
Ways of Life and Lines of Work
Because labor is so central to human existence, throughout history various thinkers have speculated about what the Buddhist eightfold path calls “right livelihood” for those who would seek and practice wisdom. For instance, both the Stoic Musonius Rufus and the Confucian Wu Yubi advocated subsistence farming as a noble line of work. The Taoist sage…
Ways of Life
Having last week explored what philosophers do, I thought I’d broaden that theme by looking at ways of life in general, not only philosophy as a way of life. Although Aristotle delineated four ways of life (making money, having fun, public service, and intellectual inquiry), nowadays we often think of various hobbies and pursuits as…
Open Reading Interview
Three weeks ago I had the honor of being interviewed by Sal Inglima of Boston Free Radio for his Open Readings show. We had a great time talking about the fine art of poetry translation. Sal read aloud my translation of a German poem about the eve of World War II by philosopher Walter Kaufmann…
What Philosophers Do
If philosophy is a way of life, then what are the characteristic activities of philosophers? (I mean, of course, not professors of philosophy, but people who love and practice the minerval arts of wisdom.) As far as I know, there is surprisingly little written on this topic, even by Pierre Hadot, who resurrected the ancient…
Much Ado about Nothingness
In pursuit of wisdom, I often explore intellectual traditions I’m not familiar with. Most recently, I’ve been reading a sourcebook of Japanese philosophy, in which I found a fascinating essay by Abe Masao (1915-2006) on the Buddhist concept of emptiness or nothingness. Abe’s foil here is Plato. In Plato’s dialogue Parmenides, Socrates argues that there must…
The Determinist Fantasy
Determinism – the belief that all events (including animal behavior and human actions) are fixed or ordained before they happen by antecedent conditions or external forces – doesn’t keep me up at night, but it seems to be something of a bogeyman for many people. To my mind, it’s a fantastical notion. Here’s how I…
Writing as Thinking
Why write? I suppose there are many reasons: sharing your opinions, persuading others of your positions on issues, journaling through personal challenges, getting things off your chest, creating something beautiful, making a name for yourself, getting published, perhaps even generating income (good luck with that!). For myself, I find writing to be my best way…
The Pursuit of Happiness
It’s been said that America’s three greatest contributions to world civilization are jazz, baseball, and the Declaration of Independence. Much as I like the first two, today is a fine day to ponder the third not only because it is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday but also because this blog post is entry number 1776 in the…
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Peter Saint-Andre, Philosopher-Coach 