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November 2024
Well, Ancient Philosophy is going at full tilt, with me having to do a short presentation on Ancient Scepticism for the class, and other students doing presentations on Stoicism and Epicureanism. I am compiling my syllabi for the Spring 2025 semester. The Cleveland Cavaliers are 10-0, which is fascinating. On piano I am getting better…
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Mid-October 2024
Hi everyone, I am enjoying this incredible Fall weather. The trees are lagging behind; usually they are at their peak around October 20th. Dr, Kim’s Ancient Philosophy class is going wonderfully, and I am reading the Timaeus to get Plato’s view of God which I am going to contrast with Aristotle’s view of God for…
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Mid-September ’24
Hi everyone, I took a trip to Montana and saw the land of the Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir tree, with mountains. It was fantastic and my brother Tom and sister-in-law Kathy were wonderful, as was Patrick. The only thing we didn’t do that I would have liked to do is go fishing–maybe next time.…
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Survived tornado
Hi everyone. We had four tornadoes in the Cleveland area on August 6th about 4 p.m., and we lost power until today, 8/10/24. I got to see the U.S.A. barely beat France in the men’s basketball Olympic finals, which was exciting. Working on Philosophy of Religion, and hoping for Intro to Philosophy as a second…
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Late July is beautiful
I am excited about my Montana trip and was emailing Tommy yesterday. On the philosophical side, a philosopher argued that God couldn’t be omnipotent and omniscient at once because an omnipotent being wouldn’t deep down existentially know what it is to fear, be frustrated, or despair. That philosopher was David Blumenfeld, who is Emeritus from…
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Why is foliage green?
Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great, says that God didn’t make foliage green to be easy on the eyes, as his teacher when he was nine years old held, as opposed to orange or purple; but that the eyes followed nature, which I think means that our eyes adapted to the colors around…
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Is God a Person?
In the late twentieth century, philosophers including Clark Pinnock and Richard Swinburne held that God is a person, changeable, not impassible, not really simple, having beliefs and desires, and so on. But the traditional view, as of Anselm and Aquinas, was that God was immutable (not changeable), impassible (not subject to passions or suffering), and…
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June 25, 2024
Hello folks! It is a beautiful summer day and I spent it all indoors in the lovely air conditioning. I played some piano, and tried to do my music theory, but apparently I am not very good at music theory! It is hard. On to philosophy! I am looking forward to teaching Anselm’s ontological argument,…
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Juneteenth 2024
Hi everyone, and a happy Juneteenth to you. I continue to work on the Bach two-part inventions and Mussorgsky’s The Old Castle as well as Brahms Hungarian Dance #5 and the Grieg Lyric Pieces. I am glorying in going barefoot around the house and my left third toe is better though I think I will…
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Summer 2024 is here
I am enjoying myself preparing for my class in Fall. Right now I am working on God’s attributes, such as eternity, omniscience, omnipotence, etc. Also I am reading about the Romantic period in music, having finished the classical period with the great trio Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. I hope to write more frequently now that…