Category: Uncategorized

The Mighty Egyptians

On By BrettIn Uncategorized6 Comments

I had some Egyptian wanderlust, and I remembered these beautiful photographs.

Dalo Collis's avatarGlobal Sojourns: Photography & Philosophy

Egypt-2006-2 There are few places on earth where I feel like I have slipped into a mythical time period, and Egypt is one.  The ancient Egyptians were geniuses, creating some of the greatest marvels of the world.  During my visits, the historical sites were never-ending and always impressive, but what intrigued me most were the people.  Incredibly insightful, and very willing to discuss life, politics and cultural issues over tea. Egypt-2006-3-2   Egypt-2006-2-2 Egypt-2006-4-2 The openness of the people was surprising, and enjoyed talking with them more than I enjoyed the tourist sites (don’t get me wrong, the sites are truly incredible achievements).  Over tea, we could delve into these discussions of politics, history and philosophy, all of which added to the flavor of country and its culture.  The one consistent trait that seeped into every conversation I had with my Egyptian friends, was their great pride in their country and their astute eye…

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Question everything: scepticism as a way of life

On By BrettIn Uncategorized2 Comments

A fascinating reflection on skepticism, both as the Hellenistic theory of life and thought and as a way of living today.

timrayner's avatarPhilosophy for change

Question-everythingIn 155BC, Carneades the Sceptic travelled to Rome to give an important speech to the Roman Senate. Carneades was the head of the Athenian Academy and the most dignified philosopher of his day. He was known as a brillant speaker with a whip-sharp mind and a mastery of sceptical techniques that was second to none. In Rome, there were mixed feelings about Carneades’ speech. Some people were concerned about Carneades’ brand of sceptical philosophy and the effect it might have on the Roman youth. Others, however, were curious to learn what Carnaedes had to offer. Greek scepticism was a mystery to the Romans, yet to immigrate across the Ionian Sea. Carnaedes was an ambassador from the land of skeptikos. Was this a land worth visiting?

Introducing Sceptic philosophy to the Romans was not Carneades’ main objective. Carneades came to Rome as a diplomat, tasked with convincing the Senate to reduce…

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The Amazon Post or Why Print Was Already Dead

On By BrettIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

gfsnell3's avatarHighTalk

AmazonPost2

One of my PR colleagues had this reaction to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, buying the Washington Post.

“This really is the end of an era for print media as we know it.”

My reaction?

Where have you been?

Print media, particularly print newspapers, official kicked the bucket in 2009 – after a long and agonizing death. In fact, 2009 was so painfully grim for print media that I dubbed it the year of the Great Media Collapse.

It was epic.

2009 ended with more than 14,000 journalism jobs gone forever. It ended with circulation rates at 1940s levels. It saw the end of dozens of newspapers including mainstay dailies in Tucson, Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore and Denver. Heck, in 2009, Businessweek was sold for less than the price of a really nice condo in Manhattan.

The situation has continued to deteriorate at a startling rate.

The Pew Research…

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Hope4Humanity

On By BrettIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Even with my limited service background, I’ve recognized the fact that much of what people say about the homeless or disenfranchised is true: they are dysfunctional, they can be scary, and they can be difficult and manipulative. Still, they are human, and they are broken humans, and I never understood why people throw their anger against them. Like this video shows, I think: above all, a truth we can all realize is that they are human beings, regardless of the other labels we pile on top.

Truthseeker247's avatarTruthseeker247

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Option overload

On By BrettIn Philosophy, Uncategorized4 Comments

Standing in the tea aisle of my local Wegmans, my heart pounded and my head froze. Too many choicesThe prim, brightly colored canisters and shiny, cellophaned boxes stared at me, rows of them, emblazoned with brand names, alleged health benefits, and flavors. Some were fair trade, some were organic. Others were just cheap.

I didn’t know what to do.

In the end, I picked a compromise of price and quality. The anxiety seems crazy. And, as my dad quipped when I mentioned the issue, it’s better to have too many choices than none at all. True. But option overload has become an increased problem in the West.

As absurd as it sounds, too many choices can be a bad thing.

Continue reading “Option overload” →

Update

On By BrettIn Uncategorized8 Comments

Since I’m leaving tomorrow for Egypt, I wanted to write a brief update about things. During my stay in Egypt, I’ll do my best to keep up the blog. I certainly hope to write about my experiences. Internet shouldn’t be too difficult where I’m staying; time may be another challenge.

Long term, I hope to update the blog when I get home. I wanted to change up the look, since it’s been a while. Also, I’m working on finding some guest contributors to try to break up the monotony of my posts. New people always bring fresh perspectives, and I want the blog to be more about “Backyard Philosophy” than my own personal experiences. I’d also accept topic suggestions.

That’s pretty much it. In the meantime, have a wonderful day.

-Brett-

Dreyfus and Magee: Phenonomology and Existentialism

On By BrettIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This week, I’ve been watching these 1980s videos with BBC host, author, and thinker Bryan Magee.

Each one is five parts, coming in at about 45 minutes, and is a great watch. Magee does a good job putting difficult concepts into fairly ordinary language and summarizing things.

I’ve uploaded one on phenomenology and existential philosophy, although most of it deals with Heidegger.

All of the videos are good. You get to see articulate, intelligent people discuss dynamic topics with extremely tallow-colored backgrounds! (What could be better than that?)Enjoy!