Edmund Husserl on Pure Consciousness, Objectivity, and Transcendence

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"Psychologically experienced consciousness is therefore no longer pure consciousness; construed Objectively in this way, consciousness itself becomes something transcendent, becomes an event in that spatial world which appears, by virtue of consciousness, to be transcendent."

-Edmund Husserl

Professor Robert C. Solomon lectures on Edmund Husserl and Phenomonology: 

Primary Source: The Essential Husserl: Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology (Studies in Continental Thought) by Edmund Husserl and edited by Donn Welton

Secondary Source: Husserl (The Routledge Philosophers) by David Woodruff Smith

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Sextus Empiricus on Truth, Justification, and Skepticism

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"Those who claim for themselves to judge the truth are bound to possess a criterion of truth. This criterion, then, either is without a judge's approval or has been approved. But if it is without approval, whence comes it that it is truthworthy? For no matter of dispute is to be trusted without judging. And, if it has been approved, that which approves it, in turn, either has been approved or has not been approved, and so on ad infinitum."

-Sextus Empiricus

This is an informative video about Marcus Agrippa and Sextus Empiricus on the nature of their skeptical arguments. The video was made using Xtranormal, which can be a hilarious medium for communicating anything. You should check it out sometime if you haven't before. Anyway, here's the video:

Primary Source: Sextus Empiricus: Outlines of Scepticism (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) by Sextus Empiricus

Secondary Source: Sextus Empiricus and Greek Scepticism by Mary Mills Patrick

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Karl Marx on Bourgeois Society, Capital, and Individuality

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"In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality."

-Karl Marx

Professor Alan Macfarlane gives a lecture on Karl Marx at Cambridge University:

Primary Source: Capital: A Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx

Seconary Source: Marx: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer

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The Socratic Problem - Who Was Socrates?

Socrates of Athens lived from 469 - 399 B.C.E., spending much of his life walking the streets, starting arguments, and perplexing all of his listeners. Many accredit Socrates as being the founder of Western Philosophy as we know it.

Alexander Nehamas, a Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, commented on Socrates' brilliance and popularity: "with the exception of the Epicureans, every philosophical school in antiquity, whatever its orientation, saw in him either its actual founder or the type of person to whom its adherents were to aspire."

Despite his fame, we know practically nothing about the historical Socrates, in large part because we trust too much the sources that Plato gave us. Plato's writings always tell a story about Socrates but never demonstrate the philosophical opinions of Plato himself.

As a matter of fact, many thinkers suggest that Plato actually perverted Socrates original teachings for the sake of his own philosophical leanings. Not only do we find inconsistencies in Plato's works, we find inconsistencies in other works as well.

Next to Plato, two sources on Socrates are extant today from the Greek thinker Xenophon (425 - 386 B.C.E.) and the Greek playwright Aristophanes (450 - 386 B.C.E.). Aristophanes wrote the play Clouds which currently is our earliest source on Socrates.

Very much like Plato, Xenophon studied under Socrates when Socrates was at least in his 50's, an age at which the two pupils might have been mature enough to study under him. Conversely, Socrates and Aristophanes would have likely interacted when Socrates was much younger.

We have numerous account of Socrates from Plato which include The Republic, Euthypro, Meno, Phaedo, and Symposium. These titles represent just a few of Plato's dialogues on Socrates. In contrast, Xenophon wrote just a few works on Socrates which areApology, Anabasis, Symposium, and Hellenica.

Because all of the accounts differ in some way and highlight several inconsistencies, we cannot determine the most appropriate interpretation of Socrates. To mimic the phrase "Socratic dialogue," scholars have named this interpretive confusion the "Socratic problem."

On the other hand, we do know some important things. First, he spent most of his time strangely traversing Athenian roads. Next, the typical Athenian would strive to fulfill his civic duty by holding a public office, particularly if he was a wealthy man. Socrates never took his civic post. And finally, the Sophists travelled all throughout Greece in search of teaching students for money, and Socrates preferred poverty and never took a dime from any of his students.

Indeed, our lack of historical documentation limits our knowledge of Socrates, but scholars have and will forever herald Socrates for his ingenuity, confidence, and legacy. Although we currently grasp in the dark for the real Socrates, future work in this area of study may reveal new and fascinating aspects of his brilliant life.

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