A Page Turning Prayer: Reviewing Jim Johnstone’s ‘Dog Ear’

There exists a quote by Leonard Cohen regarding Charles Bukowski that struck me in my adolescence, “He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.” For the much-accomplished Jim Johnstone, award-winning Toronto poet and author of Dog Ear, I would say the opposite is true—his work elevates us: ‘Bringing the ghetto uptown’, so to speak—fitting …

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What Do We Mean? On Frege’s ‘Sense & Reference’

There are many theories surrounding the meanings of words and names: some are simple and some are complex; some are well defined and some are poorly explained by their creators. The theory I will be discussing in this paper is that of Frege and his idea of the ‘sense’ of a word. In my understanding …

An Exegetic Essay Concerning Niccolò Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’

A prince is not necessarily one of noble blood; a prince is one of power, often ignoble, and often bathed in the blood of those more deserving than he to wield it. Nevertheless, a prince is not distinguished by worth, nor by wealth--not by high birth nor by good health; a prince is distinguished by …

Moral Indignation as a Justifiable Vessel for Change

Julie Tannenbaum succinctly delivers an important lesson taught by Aristotle, “how people feel reveals what they value”[i]. If this is our understanding of how emotions relate to ethics, then feeling moral indignation (as opposed to simple anger) reveals much about our core values. Moral indignation, often called ‘righteous anger’, is an emotional reaction that many …

Anti-Social Personality: Disorder, Discipline, and Development

It seems reasonable to assert that, as society develops in more complex directions, we (or, 'Selves’), as the individual components of a society, will also experience development. Ideally, over the course of the centuries, humans should progress in reflection of our developing societies; and we should also reflect those values that our societies hold dear. …