Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Hannah Arendt And Augustine Of Hippo: On The Pleasure Of And Desire For Evil, Antonio Calcagno

Antonio Calcagno

Hannah Arendt wrote two volumes on thinking and willing in The Life of the Mind, but due to her untimely death her work devoted to judgement, especially political judgement, was never completed. We do, however, have a significant amount of writings on this theme as evidenced by her lectures on Kant’s Third Critique. Judgement and thinking are critical in order to prevent what Arendt calls the “banality of evil”. Drawing on Augustine and Arendt’s work on Augustine, this paper seeks to argue that another form of serious evil has its root in what Augustine calls the libido habendi and the …

What We Talk About When We Talk About The Soul, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

The author discusses the popularity among college students of the concept of the soul, and attempts to place it in its proper context. He dispenses with orthodox theological arguments and New Age arguments as scientifically untenable. He takes a so-called Wittgensteinian approach, noting soul's linguistic significance. He analyzes expressions which use the concept of soul and concludes that they are qualitatively different from testable factual expressions. He notes that soul talk is about hopes and aspirations, inspiration, or feelings deeper than friendship. He assigns it meaning outside of scientific concepts. He likens expressions of soul to creative and ethical acts, …

Introducing… Vittorio Hösle, Pamela Reeve, Antonio Calcagno

Antonio Calcagno

An interview conducted by Pamela J. Reeve (St. Augustine’s Seminary, Toronto School of Theology) and Antonio Calcagno (King’s University College at UWO, Editor of Symposium)

Solov'Ëv And Schelling's Philosophy Of Revelation, Paul Valliere

Paul Valliere

The connection between Solov'ëv's philosophy of religion and Schelling's has long been recognized but is difficult to clarify for two reasons. The first is Solov'ëv's nonchalance about citing sources. The paucity of direct references to Schelling in the work of a philosopher who has been called 'the last and most outstanding Russian Schellingian' is quite astonishing. The second reason is the ambivalence toward Schelling in Russian religious philosophy.

Why I Am A Buddhist, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

Profound and amusing, this book provides a viable approach to answering the perennial questions: Who am I? Why am I here? How can I live a meaningful life? For Asma, the answers are to be found in Buddhism.

There have been a lot of books that have made the case for Buddhism. What makes this book fresh and exciting is Asma's iconoclasm, irreverence, and hardheaded approach to the subject. He is distressed that much of what passes for Buddhism is really little more than "New Age mush." He loudly asserts that it is time to "take the California out of …

Meanings, Communication, And Politics: Dewey And Derrida, Antonio Calcagno

Antonio Calcagno

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Writing, By Carlo Sini, Translated By Silvia Benso With Brian Schroeder, Antonio Calcagno

Antonio Calcagno

No abstract provided.

The Desert Of The Real: Christianity, Buddhism & Baudrillard In The Matrix Films And Popular Culture, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

The movie The Matrix and its sequels draw explicitly on imagery from a number of sources, including in particular Buddhism, Christianity, and the writings of Jean Baudrillard. A perspective is offered on the perennial philosophical question ‘What is real?’, using language and symbols drawn from three seemingly incompatible world views. In doing so, these movies provide us with an insight into the way popular culture makes eclectic use of various streams of thought to fashion a new reality that is not unrelated to, and yet is nonetheless distinct from, its religious and philosophical undercurrents and underpinnings.