Posted on Tuesday, June 12, 2018

073: Ep69 – Loving Life

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

We are releasing this 69th episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast a little early, as there are a few spots left to join a philosophical canoe trip that Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio will be holding with Alejandro Strong of Apeiron Expeditions. We’ll be talking about John Lachs’s 1998 book, In Love with Life, so we invited John back on the show to talk about his book, and to give people a preview of what we’ll be talking about. John has written two new chapters for an extended edition of the book, which we ask him about in this episode. To learn more about the trip planned for July 29^th through August 1^st, visit the Trip Catalog on Apeiron Expeditions’ web site.

Dr. Lachs was our guest in Episode 5 of the show, back in February of 2017, when we asked him about his more recent book, Stoic Pragmatism. is the author of numerous books, and is Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA), of which Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production. In addition to talking with John about his book, we first ask him about SOPHIA and the history of the philosophical profession, which motivated the founding of the organization.

Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.

(1 hr 6 mins)

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

Subscribe to the podcast!

We’re on iTunes and Google Play, and we’ve got a regular RSS feed too!

Notes

About the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA), including its history.
Apeiron Expeditions and the Philosophy Bakes Bread trip on a river in Maine, July 29th – August 1^st.
Andrew David Irvine, “Principia Mathematica,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2015, on Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, Principia Mathematica: Volume One.
Geoff Sayre-McCord, “Metaethics,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2012.
John Lachs, In Love with Life (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1998).

You Tell Me!

For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, John posed the following question in this episode:

“Do you find it difficult to engage in an activity for its own sake?”

Let us know what you think! Via Twitter, Facebook, Email, or by commenting here below.

Transcript

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Posted on Saturday, September 16, 2017

Clutter

Civil American, Volume 2, Article 3 (September 16, 2017), https://goo.gl/38wd1m.

| By John Lachs |

When our ancestors lived in caves, every tool was a prized possession. Furs for comfort and drawings to decorate the cave were difficult to come by. They were passed down from generation to generation.

Photo courtesy of Paul Brennan, CC0.

Later, when human productivity made the goods of the world readily available, our grandparents became collectors. Growing control over nature enabled them to stockpile everything imaginable, converting their homes into storage units.

Some claim this was in response to the tough times of the Great Depression. Others attribute it to smart shopping: buying on sale is a great saving, even if you never use the item.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com, CCO.

Photo of a water tower made to look like a "catsup" bottle.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Keith, CC0.

The important idea is that the twenty-eighth sweater and the 5-pound Ketchup bottle are there, ready to be used…if, that is, they can be found. “You never know when it’ll come in handy” is a great justification if what you look for is not lost in the clutter.

We feel it impossible to discard perfectly usable clothing even if we have no intention of ever using it. Surely, there is nothing wrong with keeping food that is only a few months past the expiration date. And though we have no interest in the second treadmill a friend wants to give away, we’ll manage to find a place for it.

Courtesy of Flickr, CCO, some rights reserved.

There is always room for the next coffee table and, after a good sale, the clothes in the closets just have to be compressed a little more. Eventually, the stuff we collect invades all rooms and peaks out from under the beds.

The moment of truth comes when we have to move. The death of a loved one or a divorce reveals the momentousness of the collection. Every item has memories attached, everything cries to be preserved. Discarding anything feels like losing a friend.

Photo courtesy of Dwight Burdette, CCO.

Is there a solution? Only one as radical as surgery is for cancer. Take ten items you cannot live without. Leave everything in place and get a couple of friends to bring their friends to carry away whatever they want. What is left can go to charity.

What we value says a lot about who we are. Look over the ten objects you kept. What do they say about you?

Dr. John Lachs is Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA).

Journal Archive

Posted on Friday, February 24, 2017

011: Ep7 – How to Live the Deepest Human Life

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

This seventh episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast features an interview with Dr. Scott Samuelson of Kirkwood Community College, on how to live the deepest human life.

Dr. Samuelson is the author of The Deepest Human Life and he is presently developing his next book, titled Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering. Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.

(1 hr 8 mins)

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

Subscribe to the podcast!

We’re on iTunes and Google Play, and we’ve got a regular RSS feed too!

Notes

Encyclopedia Britannica entry on St. Thomas of Aquinas’s “Five Ways” to prove the existence of God.
In this episode, we mention Episode 1 of Philosophy Bakes Bread with Anthony Cashio, on “The Molemen and Plato’s Cave Today.”
We also referenced Episode 5 of the show, on “Stoic Pragmatism” with John Lachs.
You may have noticed the use of a word for a man’s body part. Here’s an article on words you can and cannot say on the radio – yes, it was allowed.

You Tell Me!

For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Dr. Samuelson proposed the following questions in this episode, for which we invite your feedback: “Is war a good and healthy metaphor for thinking about our relation to suffering, or is the war metaphor harmful? If the latter, what might a better metaphor be?” What do you think?

Let us know! Twitter, Facebook, Email, or by commenting here below!

Transcript Available

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Posted on Thursday, February 9, 2017

009: Ep5 – John Lachs on Stoic Pragmatism

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

This fifth episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast features an interview with Dr. John Lachs of Vanderbilt University on the topic of stoic pragmatism. John teaches us about how to balance the need to cope with our limitations in life, while nevertheless making some progress every week or every day in ways large and small for making our lives better. Balance is the key.

(1 hr 4 mins)

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

Subscribe to the podcast!

We’re on iTunes and Google Play, and we’ve got a regular RSS feed too!

Notes

John Lachs, Stoic Pragmatism (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2012).
Epictetus, Handbook, or Enchiridion (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 1983).

Transcript Available!

(if you only see “More” below, click on it!)

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Posted on Monday, October 31, 2016

‘What Ifs’ and No Regrets

Civil American, Volume 1, Article 1 (October 31, 2016), https://goo.gl/IEMKOJ.

Shane Courtland

Dr. Courtland is SOPHIA’s Communications Officer and is the Managing Director of the Center for Free Enterprise at West Virginia University. Previously, he was an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where he was also the Director of the Center for Ethics and Public Policy. He is the author of Hobbesian Applied Ethics and Public Policy (Routledge Press, forthcoming), as well as of a number of articles. His work has been recognized with the Ehlers Prize for the best philosophy paper of the year and the 2016 Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Public Service at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Dr. Courtland has been a exemplary public philosopher, with engagements including on hospital ethics committees and in public interviews and lectures, such as on KUMD and KBJR.

| By Shane Courtland |

One often hears the expression “You should live your life without regrets” in the same situations that one hears expressions such as “carpe diem” and “YOLO.” The basic idea is that you should live your life to the fullest. One day, if you are lucky to be living, you will be able to look back on your life. When you do so, you do not want to feel that it was wasted merely because you were too timid and afraid to embrace it. Have courage, these slogans implore – reach the fullest potential of a happy and fulfilling life.

In what follows, I want to articulate a different way to understand this expression.This understanding is inspired, in part, by a passage in Epictetus’s The Enchiridion. In passage #25, he writes:

“Is anyone preferred before you at an entertainment, or in a compliment, or in being admitted to a consultation? If these things are good, you ought to be glad that he has gotten them; and if they are evil, don’t be grieved that you have not gotten them. And remember that you cannot, without using the same means [which others do] to acquire things not in our own control, expect to be thought worthy of an equal share of them. For how can he who does not frequent the door of any [great] man, does not attend him, does not praise him, have an equal share with him who does? You are unjust, then, and insatiable, if you are unwilling to pay the price for which these things are sold, and would have them for nothing. For how much is lettuce sold? Fifty cents, for instance. If another, then, paying fifty cents, takes the lettuce, and you, not paying it, go without them, don’t imagine that he has gained any advantage over you. For as he has the lettuce, so you have the fifty cents which you did not give. So, in the present case, you have not been invited to such a person’s entertainment, because you have not paid him the price for which a supper is sold. It is sold for praise; it is sold for attendance. Give him then the value, if it is for your advantage. But if you would, at the same time, not pay the one and yet receive the other, you are insatiable, and a blockhead. Have you nothing, then, instead of the supper? Yes, indeed, you have: the not praising him, whom you don’t like to praise; the not bearing with his behavior at coming in.”

The basic idea, as far as I can tell, is that Epictetus is reminding us that everything in life has opportunity costs. In order to get something of value, one always forgoes something. The man who gets to go to the party paid for it by having to sell his praise. Epictetus then tells the reader, “But if you would, at the same time, not pay the one and yet receive the other, you are insatiable, and a blockhead.”

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