Civic Studies » Greek philosophy

why be introspective?

Peter — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:08:56 +0000

According to Thomas Chatterton Williams, some leading tech oligarchs are explicitly against introspection. The “venture capitalist Marc Andreessen says that he engages in ‘zero’ introspection—or at least ‘as little as possible.’” Similarly, the billionaire investor Peter Thiel “contends that looking inward can impede action.” Both men think that introspection is a recent phenomenon, or at least a […] Continue reading →

How do we know whether fish are happy? How do we know whether we are? (Zen, Aristotelian, and Taoist discussions)

Peter — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:41:09 +0000

When you watch fish swimming around in very cold water, they look fine. Human beings have a protein, TRPM8, that reacts to cold and affects our nervous system, causing discomfort or even pain when the temperature goes down. But fish do not have any TRPM8 (Yong p. 138). Thus we can infer that fish do […] Continue reading →

The Way of Skepticism

Peter — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:32:46 +0000

Here is a pitch for a book that I have finished drafting, with the title The Way of Skepticism: In 2025, I was invited to give philosophy lectures in Kyiv, Ukraine (on the day of the third-worst bombardment in the war so far) and then at two Palestinian universities in the occupied West Bank. In […] Continue reading →

from empathy toward compassion

Peter — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 17:27:44 +0000

The English words empathy, sympathy, and compassion are used inconsistently; a dictionary will not sort them out.* For this discussion, I will posit the following definitions: Against sympathy Let’s say that I am angry or otherwise suffering. I may want you to empathize, sympathize, and feel compassion for me. I may want you to feel […] Continue reading →

consider the octopus

Peter — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 15:53:45 +0000

Ancient Greek members of the Skeptical School taught methods or habits that helped people to live better. One method involved pondering how different the world might seem to different animals, considering that other species have diverse types of eyes, ears, and tongues; preferences and aversions; and perhaps whole senses unknown to us. Skeptics said that […] Continue reading →

The Art of Solitude

Peter — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:06:59 +0000

I first explored similarities between Montaigne’s Essays (1580-88) and the ancient Buddhist texts called the Pali Canon (particularly the “Chapter of Eights”) on this blog in August 2024. I have been developing these ideas into a longer article or perhaps a portion of a book. One shared theme (among several) is that we should be […] Continue reading →

Cuttings: Ninety-Nine Essays About Happiness

Peter — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 16:33:23 +0000

Cuttings is a book in progress that consists of 99 essays about the inner life: about suffering, happiness, compassion, and related themes. I first posted each of the essays on this blog, which is 22 years old today and has accumulated more than 2,400 posts. I’ve selected the contents of Cuttings carefully from this archive, […] Continue reading →

three takes on the good life: Aristotle, Buddha, Montaigne

Peter — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 16:19:07 +0000

I am attracted to two views that have been enormously influential for thousands of years. The first view began with Aristotle and has influenced billions of people by being incorporated (with variations) into all three Abrahamic faiths. According to this theory, humans can be happy in the same way that we might describe a lush […]

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generosity as a virtue

Peter — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 15:38:55 +0000

Summary: I will argue here that generosity is a virtue when it is involves respectful care for an individual. Therefore, paradigm cases of generosity involve acts of personal attention and two-way communication, such as carefully selecting an appropriate gift or making a kind remark. To assess a transfer of money, it is better to ask […]

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how thinking about causality affects the inner life

Peter — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 18:17:57 +0000

For many centuries, hugely influential thinkers in each of the Abrahamic faiths combined their foundational belief in an omnipotent deity with Aristotle’s framework of four kinds of causes. Many believers found solace when they discerned a divine role in the four causes. Aristotle’s framework ran afoul of the Scientific Revolution. Today, there are still ways […]

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