'Thinking Out Loud' - Philosophical Dialogues With Everyday People

Starting this month, July, 2007, we will be switching from a weekly release schedule to a monthly schedule tied to our live recording sessions. Our live recording sessions are scheduled for the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 pm. We would like to encourage your paricipation in our dialogues in these live sessions. You can do so by connecting to our live sessions using special software that makes use of Voice Over Internet technology. The software is free and is called Skype. To contribute, you will need to have a microphone connected to your computer. To just listen in, all you need are your computer speakers or earphones. You can download the Skype software from www.skype.com. Thinking Out Loud and CitizenPhilosopher have no affiliation with Skype accept as a satisfied end user. If you have any questions for me or comments to share, please post them on our web site at www.citizenphilosopher.com.

Where does wisdom come from? Is it a given or is it acquired? What is the role of literature? How does one recognize wisdom literature? Is it necessary to have a teacher? How can the unwise distinguish between a wise teacher and the false prophet? How does the company you keep facilitate or obstruct the path to wisdom? Is it more conducive to engage or to withdraw? What about age and experience as teachers? Is there a hierarchy of wisdom corresponding to different levels of development or enlightenment? How do fear, complacency, and arrogance affect the cultivation of wisdom? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, John Tytus, Mike Grosso, Uriah J. Fields and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

Are there any limits to knowledge? What is knowledge? Must you be able to prove something in order to know it? What is the role of experience? What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? What role does environment play in limiting knowledge? How does reason interact with knowledge? How can we evaluated knowledge for its validity? What are the different ways of knowing? Is secondhand knowledge really knowledge? What about mystical experiences? How does public knowledge differ from private knowledge? Do the different kinds of knowledge have different limits? How much knowledge do we really need? Join citizen philosophers Derek Breen, John Tytus, Ken Thompson and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

What do we mean when we say someone is fooling oneself? Is one part of the self fooling another part of the self? Is our self really multiple selves? Who is is the fooler and who is the fooled? Is it necessarily a bad thing to fool oneself? How universal is self-deception? Can it ever be avoided? What are the harmful effects of fooling oneself? What are the benefits? What is the relationship between disillusionment and personal growth? What factors tend to prolong illusions? What factors help one see past the veil of illusions? What is the difference between being deluded and being creatively optimistic? Does disillusionment stifle creativity and productivity? Does it open one up to a deeper truth? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, David Rood, George Garrett, John Tytus, Mike Grosso and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

Modern physics introduced the concepts of the Uncertainty Principle, Probability Waves, and Black Hole Horizons beyond which we cannot see. Do these findings signify permanent, insurmountable limits to further progress in physics? If physics is the most fundamental of the sciences, are the other sciences equally limited as a consequence? What does this do to our faith in science as our institution of truth and understanding? Are there ways around these limitations? Are there other, more troubling limitations built into the structure of the institution of science itself? Does the present nature of the institution of science itself need to change to break the impasse? What role does culture play in the rise and fall of our faith in science? What role does politics play in the integrity of science? Are our current practices of science education conducive to producing the next Einstein? Have we passed our peak, or are we on the verge of a monumental breakthrough? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, John Tytus and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

This is a special edition of Thinking Out Loud, which you might call Thinking Out Loud - One on One. Due to the threat of a winter storm, only one brave citizen philosopher showed up at the scheduled meeting time. I decided to postpone the scheduled topic, "How do we fool ourselves?", for next time when more could attend. While waiting to see if anyone else would show up this time, U.J. Fields and I just happened to start talking about power and justice. It sounded promising, so I turned on the microphone. Here is that conversation. Music provided by David Rood.

What does it mean sacrifice? Who is sacrifice for? What are the expectations that come with sacrifice? Where does the call to sacrifice come from? How can we distinguish between noble sacrifices and sinister calls to sacrifice disguised as noble? How do the concepts of duty and honor relate to sacrifice? Is sacrifice voluntary? What motivates a mother to sacrifice for her children or a soldier for his country? How can the instinct to sacrifice be abused and manipulated by propaganda and other means? What are we to make of the kamikaze pilots of World War II and the suicide bombers of the Middle East today? What does it mean to be a martyr and who decides? What about sacrifices made daily without notice? What roles do our lesser self and our greater Self play in motivating sacrifice? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, Carole Abel, Jnanam MacIsaac, John Loy, John Tytus, Ken Thompson and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

They say "you have to suffer, to sing the blues." Does suffering stimulate creativity? Are pain and suffering necessary ingredients of creation? How much is sufficient? How much is too much? Can one be creativity without pain and suffering? What are the distinctions between pain and suffering? Does suffering always lead to creativity? Is the relationship always one of cause and effect? What role does sensitivity play in the relationship between suffering and creativity? Are there times when self-numbing is preferable to self-expression? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, Derek Breen, Jason Varsoke, John Tytus, Ken Thompson, Mike Grosso, Paul Beckert, U.J. Fields and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

What do we know about happiness? Is it satisfaction, excitement, pleasure, all of the above or in a category by itself? Does happiness depend on circumstances, or can one be happy under any circumstance? What are the obstacles to happiness? How do we explain the transitory, fleeting nature of happiness? Are there different kinds of happiness and are they all desirable? What is the relationship between happiness and intoxication? Are we at risk of losing motivation should we attain lasting happiness? Is happiness a destination or is a property of the path? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, Carole Abel, Derek Breen, John Tytus, Ken Thompson, Mike Grosso, Paul Beckert, U.J. Fields and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

What are the distinguishing qualities of wisdom? Is wisdom a kind of knowledge? If so, how does it differ from other forms of knowledge? Is it also a kind of art or skill? Where does wisdom come from? How can we, how do we, recognize wisdom? Can wisdom be taught or can it only be cultivated? How can we cultivate wisdom in ourselves and others? Join citizen philosophers Alex Patterson, Billie Lagerwerff, Cathy Polly, Jerry Huml, John Tytus, Mike Grosso, Paul Beckert, U.J. Fields and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

In this episode of our on-going series of philosophical podcasts, we explore the question, "What is philosophy?". Is it just "the love of wisdom?" Is it the pursuit of wisdom? Is it teachings on how to pursue wisdom? What are the goals of philosophy? Is philosophy a science? Is it an art? How does philosophy differ from religiion? What are the limits of philosophy and what are the rules, if any? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, Carole Abel, Jerry Huml, John Tytus, Mike Grosso, U.J. Fields and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

This is the twelfth in our on-going series of philosophical podcasts. The topic is "How can we overcome obstacles to seeing inconvenient truths?" What are the obstacles to seeing a truth that might cause us distress? How can we guard against deception and denial? What is objectivity? What role does our culture play in what we take to be true? What is the government's role? What effect do other major institution have on our perception - the institutions of science, education, religion, news organizations, and entertainment media? Where can we turn for objectivity? What internal resources do we have to test for truthfulness? Join citizen philosophers Billie Lagerwerff, Carole Abel, Jerry Huml, Jill Hacker, John Tytus, Ken Thompson, U.J. Fields, Tim Grubbs and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

This is the eleventh in our on-going series of philosophical podcasts. The topic is "What is the nature of human conflict?" Where does confict come from? Is conflict inevitable? Is confict always bad? How can conficts be resolved? Is there any connection between internal conficts and external conflicts? Join citizen philosophers Carole Abel, David Rood, Galen Chadwick, Jnanam MacIsaac, John Tytus, Ophelia and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

This is the tenth in our on-going series of philosophical podcasts. The topic is "How has the cultural experiment of the last three generations affected the children of today?" The grownups of today seem to be still trying to find themselves. Where has that left our children? Are they to find their own way? Have we made a Faustian bargain turning parenting over to TV-baby-sitting, mainstream education, and behavior management by prescription drugs, so grownups can have more time to pursue their careers, their pleasures, and propel the economy? Will the outcome be a brave new cultural paradigm born out of the rebellious subculture of resilient young souls or have we set the course for our own social destruction? Join citizen philosophers John Tytus, Ophelia and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.

This is the ninth in our on-going series of philosophical podcasts. The topic is legitimate authority. What is authority? Is there such a thing as legitimate authority? Where does authority come from? How is it empowered? Does legitimate authority require consent? What constitutes abuse of authority? Join citizen philosophers Carole Abel, David Rood, John Tytus, Scott Van Bergen and myself in this stimulating and insightful discussion. Music provided by David Rood.