Boethius - Troost van de filosofie
‘In Boethius is de oudere wijsgerige traditie goed herkenbaar. Dat zie je aan de kernbegrippen in de Consolatio. Leg uit.’
Seneca, Brieven aan Lucillius
‘Wijkt het stoïcisme van Seneca af van dat van Cicero? Waarin? En waarin niet?’
Aristoteles’ Ethics
‘Vergelijk de φιλία (filia) van Aristoteles met de ἔρως (eros) van Plato’
Plato’s Symposium
‘In Plato’s Symposium worden diverse meningen over de liefde gepresenteerd. Waarom volstaat Plato niet met de mening van Socrates?’
Ovidius’ Metamorphosen
‘Wat zou de reden kunnen zijn dat een cursus over de klassieke filosofie begint met het lezen van Ovidius’ Metamorphosen?’
The Sovereign Individual in Western Liberal Democracies
How the Greek philosophy of democracy, and the universal ethic in the Judeo-Christian corpus of stories, resulted in the Liberal Democracies of Western societies today.
Derrida's critique of phallogocentrism is meaningless when it is itself deconstructed
A short essay in which I argue that Derrida's critique of phallogocentrism is meaningless when it is turned to its own logic. I will argue this because Derrida is one of the foremost strategists of the postmodern movement which are ultimately sceptical about meanings, metaphysics and hierarchical oppositions. This is because all of the above can be what they call “deconstructed”. In short, when Derrida’s arguments are themselves deconstructed the arguments are rendered meaningless.
Why Shklar’s liberalism of fear is a useful contemporary theory
A short essay for the course Demoracy and its Discontents in which I argue that Shklar’s theory of liberalism of fear is still useful in contemporary society.