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herman_bergson's Blogs in December 2007

024b
Willam of Ockham For Ockham the world consisted of individual, singular entities, which we perceive with our five senses. Abstract knowledge is induced by the mind and not directly perceived by our senses. Thence, when we talk about "the elephant" or......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-02 17:44:03 | Rating:

| Views: 89 | Comments: 0 | Tags: scolastic philosopher

024c
William of Ockham (actually thematic on free will) Why do we need to pay extra attention to a subject like free will now that we are on the verge of leaving the Scolastics behind? Well, it is a philosophical issue, but for philosophers in the Middle Ages it was even a......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-04 17:06:50 | Rating:

| Views: 238 | Comments: 3 | Tags: free will

025
Copernicus Between 100 and 178 AD lived a man in Alexandria, Egypt. He was an astronomer and he was the one who put the earth in the middle of the universe. That people believed him was because you could predict planetary movement by means of his calculations. Planets on the......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-06 15:50:25 | Rating:

| Views: 94 | Comments: 0 | Tags: A new Universe

026
Niccolo Machiavelli Machiavelli survived history. He is on my list. To be honest.....he isnt a philosopher at all..But..he was a man who put some things to writing and we stil read his words. In 1512 the Republic of Florence was overthrown and the Medici returned to power.......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-09 17:56:13 | Rating:

| Views: 106 | Comments: 0 | Tags: power or ethics?

027
Ewa (from Sweden) let me know that she is not able to attend class today. Today she is a Saint Lucia in a Swedish SL sim and she sent me this picture. Throughout Sweden the feast day of Lucia, or Lucy, is celebrated as a festival of lights. In the early hours of the morning of December 13 a......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-13 17:13:03 | Rating:

| Views: 144 | Comments: 1 | Tags: One of my students and Erasmus

028
Thomas More The best society is one whose aim is the temporal well-being and happiness of all the citizens, not only of the rich or well-born. All are to share equally and equitably in al the good things -- or pleasures -- of this life and this world: food, clothes, houses, work,......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-16 18:03:20 | Rating:

| Views: 216 | Comments: 0 | Tags: He lost his head.....

029
Sir Francis Bacon Today it is 1591. You, my students, have wandered through almost 1200 years of philosophy now since Thales of Milete. Oh..I am sorry..I forgot to introduce myself....Sir Francis Bacon is the name. Nice to meet you. And in all these 1200 years we did make hardly any......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-18 18:11:38 | Rating:

| Views: 222 | Comments: 0 | Tags: A milestone in history

030
Galilei Galileo I guess we all know about Galilei Galileo. The man who said, like Copernicus, that the earth rotated around its axis and as a planet around the sun. It is 1632 and Rome, the pope, wasnt pleased with his ideas. The Dutchman Lippershey invented the telescope and Galilei......Read More

Posted on: 2007-12-20 18:26:08 | Rating:

| Views: 179 | Comments: 0 | Tags: A second milestone

031
Thomas Hobbes Hobbes lived during the emergence of men who challenged not only traditional tenets about political and religious authority, but also the wisdom of the past, especially that of Aristotle. Around 1675 Europe was 'crowded' with brilliant minds. Descartes died 25 years......Read More