Human Nature and Historical Chinese Philosophy — In the Analects, the famous Chinese philosopher Kongzi (also known as Confucius) was very tight-lipped on any abstract metaphysical questions. However, the closest he came to making any statement on the matter was at the end of the seventeenth book in the Analects, which he says that “by nature people…

One of the most famous passages of Zhuangzi concerns a dream in which the author imagines himself to be a butterfly, and upon wakening, cannot distinguish whether or not he was dreaming of being a butterfly or if “he”was a butterfly dreaming of being him. The dream is recounted in…

An air of sensitivity has presented each of us with a question to ask ourselves: Does the right to say anything outweigh the risk of the harm it may do? In most media outlets the alleged harm has been termed “Hate Speech,” meaning, the spouting of opinions intended to harm…

Religious institutions and community organized gatherings are often assumed to be sustained by the strength of the participant’s belief in their respective creed. How else could such monumental temples and flyers of abbreviated doctrine persist in the culture if not for the firm, unflinching faith of the believers? In following…

A Critical Analysis of Plato’s Laches — Throughout Plato’s dialogue Laches, several definitions emerge for how to understand what courage is. There is some debate among the men in conversation, and though Socrates ends up objecting to every proposition, the ground covered is in the right direction. I will examine the three definitions that Laches’ gives for…

A Desecration of Luke Skywalker and Star Wars — We all remember the arc of Luke Skywalker. A farm boy craving adventure who found himself whisked up in a Joseph Campbellian hero’s journey in outer space. He met Obi-wan and followed him on a path to learn the arts of the force, and his mentor later sacrificed himself in…