Tag: philosophy

Commentary: New Is Not Always Better

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Jesus Christ

Imagine a scientist who decided to reject every scientific experiment or study that had come before him and would trust only scientific principles that he demonstrated with his own experiments.

Naturally, he would completely handicap himself. In his arrogance, he’d accomplish very little with his science, since he’d be hard at work re-demonstrating every scientific discovery ever made, many of which build on each other. He could never hope to repeat what generations of scientists (many of them much smarter than he) had accomplished over hundreds of years. But if he wasn’t willing to accept their testimony, writings, and conclusions, he’d have no other choice.

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Commentary: Nonsensical Gender-Bending Ideology Ends When Women Say It Does

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people in swimming pool

I have always tried to follow a “live and let live” philosophy. That meant as long as someone isn’t harming anyone else in any way, it was none of my business and people should be allowed to do what they want and be who they are. I draw the line, however, when those choices intrude on someone else’s life. And what these days we are instructed to call transgender “acceptance” often does.

In 2019, I explained how, after receiving a diagnosis specific to women in 2018, I joined what I thought was an exclusively female support group online. For months this group was a salve to my soul at a low point in my life. That was until our group was infiltrated by a biologically born male who urged the administrators to make inclusive changes for him. Because of one person, our group rules were changed from feminine terms to gender-neutral, and in order to continue participating in the group, we had to conform to the new rules of inclusivity. 

It felt like such a violation of privacy to share intimate, personal experiences with others knowing that there was a man with unknown intentions in our group. I took my exit knowing that the administrators were not standing by me and the other women who held my frustrations. 

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Wisconsin Professor Suspended After Publicly Criticizing University’s ‘Wokeness’

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Rev. Dr. Gregory P Schulz of Concordia University of Wisconsin

Rev. Dr. Gregory P Schulz, a philosophy professor and Lutheran pastor, was suspended from Concordia University in Wisconsin following the publishing of his Feb. 14 article “Woke Dysphoria at Concordia.”

“Wokeness appears to be developing into a pathology at my ‘institution of Lutheran higher education’” Schulz wrote in Christian News article, criticizing the direction of Concordia University.

Five days later, Schulz discovered that he was suspended from the university. He apparently did not know why, even after getting locked out of his university email account and banned from all campus properties.

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Commentary: The Unchanging Telos of the Democrats

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Afghan people

Watching the Biden Administration bring into the country tens of thousands of unvetted Afghans, who are neither U.S. citizens nor native Afghans who assisted American troops, I am coming to wonder whether Biden was actually wrong to describe the withdrawal of American forces as an “immense success.” It was, in fact, exactly what Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other Democratic operatives said it was: a success that will move the Democrats toward their goal of creating a one-party state. 

Like the illegal aliens streaming across our southern borders and the efforts to remove restrictions against voting fraud, the influx of Afghan refugees is intended to increase the number of votes that will likely go to the Democratic Party, no matter how badly they mismanage the country. 

Looking at these coordinated steps, I am reminded of an idea put forth by Aristotle in book six of the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle famously insisted on a distinction between technical expertise (e.g., building a house) and deeper, more foundational forms of knowledge. The most primal wisdom is sophia, which deals with universal knowledge that underlies all other true modes of knowing. But Aristotle also raises the question of whether there are not forms of techne that are so well developed that they reflect sophia. The two examples that he cites are Phidias’s work as an architect and Polykleitos’s achievements as a sculptor. According to Aristotle, the excellence that characterizes their technical skills indicates their creators are truly wise.

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11 States Consider Bans on Teaching Critical Race Theory

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Student raising hand in class

Earlier this year, an Aiken County teacher wrote to South Carolina state Rep. Bill Taylor in alarm about critical race theory emerging in public schools. 

“I know full well the insidiousness of the so-called critical race theory that aims to resegregate society, discriminate against those who are white, victimize those who are black, and render America a nation of identity groups rather than Americans,” the teacher wrote. 

Hardly a day goes by, Taylor said, that he doesn’t hear from a constituent on the issue. 

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