Today we are shutting down all activities for The Electric Agora and will soon be archiving the site. The social media accounts for The Electric Agora were hacked and posts on those accounts are not us – please unfollow/block/report those accounts. A new media venture by Daniel Kaufman featuring many of Electric Agora’s regular contributors has been in development for quite some time. The recent hacks have accelerated the timeline for announcing this new venture. Cathode Ray Zone will be launching soon. Learn more at cathoderayzone.com and on twitter @cathoderayzone ..read more

The Electric Agora website is currently undergoing system updates – one result of this is that comments are temporarily disabled on the site. We are working to upgrade many of EA’s features and appreciate your patience and excuse our mess ..read more

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by Kevin Currie-Knight ___ Sophie Grace Chappell (Open University) talks with Kevin (East Carolina University) about her book Epiphanies: An Ethics of Experience. (Oxford: 2022) They talk about what epiphanies are, why they should count as a type of reason (often more persuasive than more formal conceptions of reason), and why philosophers should better appreciate their role in everyday moral life. 00:00 Intros, and Why Sophie Teaches at the Open University 5:37 – What Are Epiphanies and Why Are They Important to Philosophy? 16:06 – How Moral Experience and Thinking Work in the Real World 21 ..read more

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by Mark English ___ Patriotism comes in many shapes and sizes. It remains a key factor in politics and international relations. In this episode, Mark English continues his reflections on patriotism and nationalism, referring to a curious and revealing passage from Margery Allingham’s 1941 novel, Traitor’s Purse. Reference is also made to criticisms of previously-expressed views on the Ukraine conflict and current U.S. foreign policy ..read more

By Daniel A. Kaufman ___ [1] We need to distinguish between philosophy and what people have called philosophy. Physics is not philosophy and neither is biology, yet once, they — and the rest of the natural sciences — went under the name “natural philosophy.”  [2] I would identify philosophy with a set of tools and techniques, not with any particular subject matter. Specifically: philosophy addresses a broad variety of subjects, via the careful, exacting use of logical, conceptual, and linguistic analysis. [3] I would add, further, that philosophy — at least in its mainline incarnatio ..read more

by Milton Lawson ___ I spent many summer nights throwing a tennis ball against the wall of the other side of these stairs with the Astros game on the radio, pretending to be a fielder following the play-by-playThe Start In June of 1978, there was nothing I hated more than the Houston Astros. I had just moved to a new city during summer break. I had no friends. The highlight of my day was watching a Spider-Man cartoon.  As a latch-key Gen-X kid, I would make my own lunch and set up the TV tray in front of the Zenith television, turn the big dial to “U” for UHF and the small dial to chann ..read more