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moral philosophy

"Cultivating Happiness" by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet

Submitted by Brian Napoletano on 24 August, 2008 - 14:50

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On 26 October 2007, I enjoyed the rare privilege of listening to the Dalai Lama in person in the Eliot Hall of Music on Purdue University's campus. In spite of the many security precautions, I unwittingly smuggled a recording device into the auditorium (I had forgotten that my Sansa has a built-in microphone and WAV recorder). Once I realized this, I decided to record the lecture for the sake of my friends who could not attend. The recording quality is extremely low-fidelity, and his holiness was not the easiest speaker to understand, even in person. The auditorium was full, so I was forced to hold the recorder in my hand for the duration of the lecture, resulting in many bumps and clicks.

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Epistemological Relativism: Can Reason Represent Reality?

Submitted by Brian Napoletano on 7 July, 2008 - 21:29

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Originally posted on A contrario on 16 June 2007

I have always had a very difficult time grasping the intellectual foundations of relativism in post-modernity. As I continue to examine the tenets of this popular philosophy, I view it with rapidly diminishing credulity. To minimise confusion as much as possible in this discussion (a rather difficult task when dealing with certain components of post-modern ideology), I should begin by clearly stating the elements of relativism that I am taking exception with. The particular claim of relativism I am referring to is that which contends that because the human intellect is incapable of acquiring complete and infallible knowledge of any given truth, no single interpretation of a truth can be considered superior to any other. This notion, perhaps more accurately referred to as epistemological relativism, is a prevalent idea in some schools of post-modern thought.

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