Dr. Darrell Arnold, Professor of Philosophy
Note – My last post elicited multiple thoughtful comments from readers but I thought that Dr. Darrell Arnold’s were worth reprinting in their entirety. I have known Dr. Arnold for more than 30 years and he is a careful and conscientious thinker whose thought I highly value. Continue reading Religion as Community
… continued from a previous entry
Western monotheistic religions try to answer both the meaning of life and the meaning in life questions with an overarching worldview. However, religions consist of multifarious beliefs, expressions, and experiences. For example, there are considerable differences even in a supposedly single religion like Christianity between Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Fundamentalists, or Jehovah’s Witnesses. In fact, we could plausibly say there are as many religions as there are religious practitioners.
Continue reading A Philosopher’s Lifelong Search for Meaning – Part 2 – Religion and Meaning
Heraclitus by Johannes Moreelse
© Darrell Arnold Ph.D.– (Reprinted with Permission)
https://darrellarnold.com/2018/09/18/presocratics/
More than anything, Heraclitus is known as the philosopher of flux. As is famously attributed to him: “One cannot step in the same river twice” (D 91). Or as he similarly notes elsewhere: “As they step into the same rivers, other and still other waters flow upon them.” Continue reading The Presocratics – Heraclitus
… continued from the Preface
I distinguish between two basic questions concerning life and meaning.
The first is: “What is the meaning of life?” It might also be expressed: “Why does anything exist?” “Does anything matter?” “Does the universe have a purpose?” “What’s it all about?” This is the cosmic dimension of the question. It asks if there is a deep explanation or universal narrative that would make sense of everything, including us. Continue reading A Philosopher’s Lifelong Search for Meaning – Part 1 – Life and Meaning
Thales of Miletus “the first philosoher”
© Darrell Arnold Ph.D.– (Reprinted with Permission)
https://darrellarnold.com/2018/09/18/presocratics/
The very first of the Greek thinkers — the Ionians — lived in Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. They were speculative natural philosophers. Thales, who Aristotle considered the first philosopher, speculated that the various distinct objects of the world all had the same substratum. Underneath the appearance of division in the world, there was a basic material unity: Continue reading The Presocratics – The Ionians