Socratic State of Mind Podcast

“…by never relaxing our attention, we shall escape at least a few faults. ” —   Epictetus, Discourses , 4.12.19 The yawning vacuum ripped open when we avoid overeating and heavily processed tasty food can be filled by virtue, but only if we’re paying attention. Previously, we’ve: * Determined that most of the things talking heads claim drive our obesity epidemic miss the mark . * Identified a grou...

Original article: https://andrewperlot.substack.com/p/the-injustice-of-being-obese “Luxury in food is not only unnecessary but harmful to the body, the soul, and society.” — Musonius Rufus, Lectures and Sayings , Fragment 18 No one wants to be the bad guy. So justice — one of the four parts of virtue — is a beloved topic on the political right and left, though the sides conceptualize justice and j...

Original Article: https://open.substack.com/pub/andrewperlot/p/virtuous-tricks-that-convince-the?r=1xulhu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true “Of all corporeal operations, digestion is the one which has the closest connection with the moral condition of man.” — Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste , 82 Muhahah! I feel so Machiavellian writing that headline. I...

“The more one has, the more one wants, since satisfactions received only stimulate instead of filling needs.” — Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology . “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Aristotle observed this 2,300 years ago, and for humans, pleasure vacuums may be most abhorrent of all. Let go of harmful pleasures and you’ll probably relapse or fill the void with something else. Well, most of th...

Original Article: https://open.substack.com/pub/andrewperlot/p/can-we-be-slim-if-obesity-isnt-bad?r=1xulhu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true “You seem, Antiphon, to imagine that happiness consists in luxury and extravagance. But I hold that: to need nothing is divine; to need as little as possible is nearest to the divine.” — Socrates, Memorabilia , 1.6 I’ve got a question f...

“Pass the margarine,” I say to the man across the table, and he hands it over with a smile. Then I punch him in the face. “This psychopath just gave me exactly what I asked for!” I scream so every diner can hear my outrage. “What if he’d given that margarine to my defenseless child? Are we going to stand for this?” Most look up from their chicken fried steaks and nachos in confusion. “Yah,” one sa...

Original article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original Article Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original Article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original Article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original Article Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Philosophy exiles us from our tribe and its pleasant certainties; the only consolation is that it makes us a confederate of all humanity. I’ve been thinking about this for several years because many people in my orbit have strong opinions about the ongoing, disastrous conflict in Gaza and are intent on forcing them on the world (and me). They also have definite, insistent views on the proper remed...

Read the original article here . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

Original article . Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

I was happy to stumble on Sara Ness’s Substack after losing track of her for years. We met in 2013, when she was running an Austin Relating Games group, and I’ve always been impressed with her thoughtful ideas about communication, connection, and community. We’ve decided to exchange some letters about overlapping interests, and we’ll continue as long as we and our subscribers enjoy it. Let us know...

We rely on memory slaves and think nothing of it. The ancient Romans did too, but their memory slaves wore shackles. If our cost is merely the atrophy of obsolete recall abilities — a little brain fog that Chat GPT or Alexa can dispel — it might be worth it for the convenience. Maybe. But if the living memory slaves of ancient Rome — nomenclatores servi — are any indication, the cost of offloading...

Find my original post . My Memorize for Meaning course. The fate of good things may be to act as Trojan horses for small evils. In many modern cases, the evil is not so small — the debasement of humanity itself. The wells where clear water bubbled up — free for anyone to take — are now often tainted. Our bodies, our food, and our minds are the latest victims. Caring for them a century ago was simp...