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Arguments Matter, Part 3: Practical Tips
If you are going to argue with someone, you have to see them as rational; otherwise, arguing can’t reach them. You have to try to understand them on their own terms if you are going to give reasons that they see as reasons. Continue reading
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Arguments Matter, Part 2: Being Correct Isn’t Enough
Arguments matter because we live an embedded life in which reality determines moral life, and moral life determines reality. In other words, is it not only true but also legitimate? Continue reading
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Arguments Matter, Part 1: The Problem With Beliefs
Let’s say you and a random social media user, disagree over abortion…. The answer to this question matters greatly. It’s not like a dispute over our particular tastes in food which can remain unresolved without jeopardizing our relationship – it must be settled. Continue reading
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Changing Language; Changing Identity
If common sense and superstition are two extremes on a knowledge spectrum, then a hard distinction contained in the folkish idea of speakers and doers is cozying up to superstition. Continue reading
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Politics NOT Partisanship: an Arendtian Model
For Arendt, politics was the back-and-forth interplay between regular people in a democracy. Politics is the realm of freedom (The Human Condition) and will not only combat hyper-partisanship and raw power plays, but may even help us thrive even in the face of great collective challenges. Continue reading
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My Three Religious Conversions
Now I sometimes say that I’m religiously bisexual because when I found Buddhist meditation, I felt more Christian than ever. Continue reading
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Windshield Reflections #2
Little did she know that reading would be her competitor, my new mistress. Continue reading
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Moral Ideals and the Pathology of “Doing Your Best”
“… Development itself constantly changes the self’s possibilities such that what would count as one’s ‘best’ transforms in ways that are at once real and out of view.” Continue reading
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Contrasting Forms of Independence
In fact, one should understand that Sweden’s guiding ideology is not so much collectivism as it is statist individualism; the goal is to make citizens as independent from each other as much as possible. Continue reading
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Divorce and the Pursuit of Happiness
Rather than leading us to a deeper, more meaningful life, this so-called happiness may be one more thing we don’t really need. Continue reading
About me: I am a career educator and traveler at heart. My written work includes academic writing in philosophy and linguistics, English acquisition, and most intently in the areas of spiritual engagement with reality and what that means for our public lives.
My education is a mixture of formal study in philosophy, political theory, Biblical studies, and history, along with professional teaching certification in TESOL and in cognitive testing, and international teaching.
My travel experiences include a range of countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. I have lived in Canada, the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand. From those places I have traveled to many others besides.
I am a child of the 70’s and a “family man.” That means I have two wonderful kids who have been round the world with me.
Lastly, I am married to a wonderful woman since 2004. She is my partner, my friend, and my muse.
Thanks again for stopping by,
Raymond Klassen - Ideals and Identities 