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Political Philosophy anyone?

I have noticed a lack of one of the finest things in life being discussed on the forum: Political Philosophy and philosophy in general. I've spent the past month or so cruising through the first half of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, but have neglected it lately. I'm a political philosophy junky and I wonder if there are any others on B&B. If so, what have you read, what are the most striking arguments you've encounters and why? I hope this is imposing on the speakeasy...
 
I for one would love to see some discussion around what people think of the minimum wage increase.. perhaps not as much political as economic but they all tie together really don't they...

I'll refrain from hi-jacking your thread an posting an opinion on it here, I guess my point is that some politics/economics would be great to discuss.

You guys seen any of the net-neutrality commercials lately? While it pisses me off that Comcast, Verizon and the likes are spreading somewhat false (ok very false) propaganda in general I am always against laws being passed that are trying to do the job that pure capitalism should do. The creation of a new law is rarely, if ever a good thing, especially the way unrelated things have a way of tying themselves to seemingly "good" legislation.

Ok, there's my stab at some things for discussion.
 
I'll raise a tentative hand to show an interest in political philosophy. I'm drawn more to what I consider the holy trinity of ancient philosophy: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, but I've read the standard political texts of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume and Kant.

Before anyone wonders where I get the time to plough through all of the above tomes - I am a philosophy student!
 
It is sometimes discussed in the Barbershop. Not often perhaps as a result of conflict avoidance. Obviously, this needs to be done with utmost respectfulness and open-mindedness to maintain the "gentleman" quotient.

I supposed a forum for Politics might not be wrong--perhaps one that must be specially registered for and moderated. Violators of civilized behavior would need to be excluded.

Joel and other mods--would it make sense to do that? Or too much of a distraction from the true shaving purpose of the forums?
 
I don't mind philosphy. Took an into class in college. Political philosophy I really don't care about. I find metphysic and existential philosophy interesting. I like what little I have read from Kierkegaard. Religious philosophy I like more than political philosophy, though I find much of western religious philosophy somewhat lacking, probably because in my opinion religion largely has to do with faith and as Kierkegaard explains creating philosophical explanations for faith only undermines true honest faith.
 
I have noticed a lack of one of the finest things in life being discussed on the forum: Political Philosophy and philosophy in general. I've spent the past month or so cruising through the first half of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, but have neglected it lately. I'm a political philosophy junky and I wonder if there are any others on B&B. If so, what have you read, what are the most striking arguments you've encounters and why? I hope this is imposing on the speakeasy...

Not I. :001_tongu

Tim
 
Don't want to cause a stir. Maybe this should be moved to the Barber Shop? It's nice to see some philosophy fans out there (I am a student as well). I wanted to ask because of the "gentlemanly" demeanor of this forum, I thought it would do well without bringing any useless heat. My original post was supposed to read
"I hope this is not imposing on the speakeasy..."

TheYoshi, I for one am not too worried about the minimum wage increase so long as it is incremental. Too fast a rise in a short period of time is never good for the economy. When a minimum wage of any kind is implemented, it seems to require the confronting of the difficult task of raising it periodically. I am not as concerned about the inflation that is being discussed by the talking heads, but maybe I'm an optimist.

As far as net neutrality is concerned, I think the internet is a categorically unique thing that has to be understood by legislators before they go messing around with it. I am concerned about any legislation being used here, but am also concerned that my ISP will stand in the way of internet usage based on who's paid them the most. Right now however, I think it is, like the wiki on it quotes, "a solution in search of a problem". The problem doesn't exist yet and I hate to hear people cry wolf so loudly. But this leads to an interesting question... should legislation be used to control X prior to X's existence? Should lawmaking be a reactionary process or should it be proactive?

BTW fuerein, I'm an existentialist at heart. Sartre is one of my faves.
 
Ah, political philosophy - my sort of a thread. I'm not sure how appropriate a separate "Politics" forum would be, but I certainly think that philosophy is correctly placed as a gentlemen's pursuit in the Speakeasy, while political issues should be left to the Barber Shop. Discussing Aristotle or Rousseau should, by its very nature, necessitate a certain depth of knowledge and intellectual involvement and should therefore be quite easily distinguished from potentially more emotionally-involved topics. The emphasis here must be on the philosophy and argumentation.

Perhaps we could have a "Political Philosophy Thread of the Week"?
 
It is one of the finest things in life to gaze at our navels and peer from our ivory towers, eh? :smile: I would love to read a discussion or two on Free Will, Metaphysics, or anything in between. Perhaps your distinction, Xert, is right on the money. Philosophy in the speakeasy, politics in the barber shop? Sorry if I am intrusive, but a bunch of clean shaven folks like yourself seems to be the sort I'd like to commiserate with.
 
Why don't you go ahead and post some thoughts on a topic for discussion then? Political philosophy should be fine, so long as the emphasis is strongly put on the philosophical nature of it.
 
Why don't you go ahead and post some thoughts on a topic for discussion then? Political philosophy should be fine, so long as the emphasis is strongly put on the philosophical nature of it.

Ok, here goes... (thanks Xert) One of the things I've been grappling with recently is the problem of an objective ethical truth. I've noticed a few C.S. Lewis fans on B&B and am curious as to how one derives an objective truth (Lewis uses a mix of a priori arguments and a posteriori arguments to make his case, although he claims the former is much more important) with his argument of cultural similarity. One can declare that one shall not kill, but is that an obective truth? Does it exist outside of declaration and acceptance? I am rather pleased by Kant's formula for such a truth (the Categorical Imperative), but find that he is at a standstill in regard to finding any such truths in reality. This leads to another question... how does a society determine what "natural law" is and how does it reflect or influence a society? Any thoughts?

PS: feel free to shut me up and I will oblige. I don't want to intrude on this forum...
 
Ok, here goes... (thanks Xert) One of the things I've been grappling with recently is the problem of an objective ethical truth. I've noticed a few C.S. Lewis fans on B&B and am curious as to how one derives an objective truth (Lewis uses a mix of a priori arguments and a posteriori arguments to make his case, although he claims the former is much more important) with his argument of cultural similarity. One can declare that one shall not kill, but is that an obective truth? Does it exist outside of declaration and acceptance? I am rather pleased by Kant's formula for such a truth (the Categorical Imperative), but find that he is at a standstill in regard to finding any such truths in reality. This leads to another question... how does a society determine what "natural law" is and how does it reflect or influence a society? Any thoughts?

PS: feel free to shut me up and I will oblige. I don't want to intrude on this forum...

You might want to try posting a new thread so that people will be aware of the proposed topic if they're not keeping up with this one.
 
I may post one shortly in the Barber Shop. IMHO, I would call this thread dead. I do apologize for jumping the gun and not reading enough of the forums to understand what should go here. Thanks for humoring me...
 
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