20 Jun 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
As I prepared to do further reading on the Utilitarian successors to Bentham and Mill I ran across a comment about the importance of the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein to the 20th century philosophy. The writer made a brief comment about the unusual mystical “hints” in Wittgenstein’s work, which I found intriguing. So, I have spent some time in a Wittgenstein diversion from the Utilitari...
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13 Jun 2017

Ethics Project
In an earlier post on the thinking of Immanuel Kant, we found that Kant believed that the measure of the morality of an action was to be found only in the intention of the person acting. He argued that we can never know with certainty what outcome an action will produce and so we cannot be held responsible for outcomes, only intentions. Utilitarians, as we’ve seen, though, are “conseq...
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09 Jun 2017

Others
I ran across a reference yesterday to the “group mind” phenomenon documented by Thomas D. Steeley in his decades-long study of honey bees. Having no particular interest in honey bees but a long-standing interest in the potential power of group consciousness, I bought a “Kindle Shorts” version of one of his books to see if it might help me understand his findings. Seeley, Thomas D.. Th...
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06 Jun 2017

Ethics Project
In an earlier post I briefly reviewed the ideas of Immanuel Kant, particularly his notion of the Categorical Imperative. Kant’s “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals”, in which the Categorical Imperative was first proposed, was published in 1785. Roger Scruton, writing about Kant, has said: “The Critique of Pure Reason (published in 1781, 4 years before The Metaphysics of Morals...
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01 Jun 2017

Ethics Project, Judaic Topics
As I write this, the Jewish Festival of Shavuot is about to begin. The Festival is rooted in a celebration of the springtime grain harvest but has also become the time Jews recall and commemorate the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. It is customary to read the Book of Ruth during synagogue services on Shavuot. The custom is an old one, being mentioned in a non-canonical Talmudic work...
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24 May 2017

Direct Path Project, Others
Several influential contemporary spiritual teachers including Ken Wilber, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and others have commented on the increasing numbers of individuals around the world who are experiencing rapid evolution in consciousness. Their language might be somewhat different in describi9ng the phenomenon but their fundamental point is the same. We are at or near a “tipping po...
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19 May 2017

Ethics Project, Judaic Topics
Parashat Behar contains the commandment of the jubilee year introduced, famously, with the verse inscribed on the Liberty Bell. ¹⁰ And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family... ¹³ In this year of ...
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12 May 2017

Ethics Project
In our first post on the subject of intention in Islam we discussed the “Hadith of Intention”: which is stated in its short form as: “Verily actions are by intention and for every person is what he intended.” The word translated as “intention”, is niyyah. It’s important that we understand clearly what that term means in the context used in the hadith. Here are three comments on ...
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10 May 2017

Ethics Project
The issue of intention is central to the study of ethics. Differences among religions, philosophies and ethical systems on the issue of intention are critical to understanding their similarities and their distinctions. I did not expect to address the issue of intention in Islam at this point, feeling much better equipped to address both Jewish and Christian approaches, but I encounter...
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28 Apr 2017

Ethics Project
The subject of this comment is out of order but it’s one that has been on my mind this week so I’ll interrupt the planned flow of posts on the Ethic of Three Metals to make a point. Kant suggests (in loose paraphrase) that we judge all our actions against his proposed standard: is this action expressive of a principle that I would have universally applied in all times, places and situ...
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