Maui Philosophers

(* Robin Smith, author of SEP's 2022 entry "Aristotle's Logic," argues that Rhetoric should be part of the Organon.)

Whenever we do any human thing, we can either do it well or do it poorly. With instruments, we can do things either better, faster, and more; or worse, slower, and less. That is, with instruments they either augment or diminish our doings.

Do thinking and speaking (and writing and listening) require instruments? Yes. We do need physical instruments like microphones, megaphones, pens, papers, computers. But we also need mental instruments: grammar, vocabulary words, evidence-gathering techniques, big-picture integration methods, persuasion strategies. Thinking while sitting meditatively all day in a lotus position doesn't require much instrumentation of any kind, but thinking and speaking well in the sense of project planning, problem-solving, negotiating, arguing, deliberating--that is, the active doings in the world (whether romantic, social, commercial, or political)--do require well-honed mental instruments. That's the Organon in a nutshell.

Are you an up-and-coming human being, a doer, go-getter, achiever, or at least you're choosing to become one? You need to wield the Organon.

Join us.

We are live-reading and discussing Aristotle's ~Nicomachean Ethics~, book VI chapter 13.
.
1. What again is choice {prohairesis}? What is deliberation {bouleusis}?
2. What is going on desideratively, cognitively, when we choose one thing over another? How is deliberation different from wisdom, if at all?
3. Why are character traits more like bits of knowledge?
4. When and how do we ever choose our character traits?
5. How do we know which character trait to choose?
6. At what point in our moral development can we say we have a character trait?
.
.
The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.

(* Robin Smith, author of SEP's 2022 entry "Aristotle's Logic," argues that Rhetoric should be part of the Organon.)

Whenever we do any human thing, we can either do it well or do it poorly. With instruments, we can do things either better, faster, and more; or worse, slower, and less. That is, with instruments they either augment or diminish our doings.

Do thinking and speaking (and writing and listening) require instruments? Yes. We do need physical instruments like microphones, megaphones, pens, papers, computers. But we also need mental instruments: grammar, vocabulary words, evidence-gathering techniques, big-picture integration methods, persuasion strategies. Thinking while sitting meditatively all day in a lotus position doesn't require much instrumentation of any kind, but thinking and speaking well in the sense of project planning, problem-solving, negotiating, arguing, deliberating--that is, the active doings in the world (whether romantic, social, commercial, or political)--do require well-honed mental instruments. That's the Organon in a nutshell.

Are you an up-and-coming human being, a doer, go-getter, achiever, or at least you're choosing to become one? You need to wield the Organon.

Join us.

We are live-reading and discussing Aristotle's ~Nicomachean Ethics~, book VI chapter 13.
.
1. What again is choice {prohairesis}? What is deliberation {bouleusis}?
2. What is going on desideratively, cognitively, when we choose one thing over another? How is deliberation different from wisdom, if at all?
3. Why are character traits more like bits of knowledge?
4. When and how do we ever choose our character traits?
5. How do we know which character trait to choose?
6. At what point in our moral development can we say we have a character trait?
.
.
The project's cloud drive is here, at which you'll find the reading texts, notes, and slideshows.