All things Philosophical. discussion

If I like it I may even just say make the thread.

There is always Gender Bias. Though, the harder question is what's the right balance? What does gender equality in literature mean and should it even be a goal worth working for? (or should art simply continue to imitate life as seen through the author's eyes or as he would imagine his characters points of view?)

How convincing is an author of one gender writing as if they were of the other gender?

I'm following this but I can't decide on what topic to take up from this...Would you both like a Anthological discussion thread for "Gender Studies"?

They might be different, see what Curmudgeon thinks.

My question boils down to can a male author write convincingly or "authentically" as a woman character?

Could you tell the author was a male, if you did a blindfold reading, not knowing the gender of the author?

The problem is that it's an between sort of question...do I do something specific or go on to literary studies or how about Hermeneutics and the gender question i.e. does the interpretation necessarily change when the gender of the author changes.

So...I've had an idea...I could rehash the opening years topics of philosophy subjects for the so-called 'noobs' if you think that would work?

Ian wrote: "They might be different, see what Curmudgeon thinks.

My question boils down to can a male author write convincingly or "authentically" as a woman character?

Could you tell the author was a male, ..."

Curmudgeon was wondering if a discussion of "Fairness" (Equality?) as it applies to the way females are depicted in modern stories might be interesting.

For example, Robert Heinlein's Friday has drawn some criticism from Goodreads Reviewers about how his character "Friday" deals with sexual Abuse....

Reviewers have critized too many works to count about how this woman was written so strong only to fold her into a damsel in distress for the Macho-Macho Man to come save. (i.e. Heroica the She-God decked out in armor and a sword, able to slice villians in to little bitty bitses with her toenails at the blink of an eye suddenly collapses in panic against the wall too frozen to defend herself when a small mouse comes out from under the bed. Of course she's too frozen to defend herself and...she gets captured! Can our hero save the brave beauty in time or... will it be curtains?")

I exaggerate in the interest of being entertaining, but, I'm sure you get the idea. (I have a 7 year old daughter. I now care about these things...where are the role-models for her that I had growing up... lets see there was Captain Kirk, James Bond and...okay maybe there are better examples than those...)

If I need to clarify that more, I will, gladly (and I'll be more serious if I need too too).

I think I'll put that into the 'Plain sight' section under something like "Female characters, Role models and the difference"?

Works for me.

Me too, though I'm equally interested in male characters created by female authors.

I'm interested in medical ethics - euthanasia, doctors denying treatment due to religious reasons, etc.

I was hinting at that in the ethics section when I mentioned issues.

I know this might be a bit off-thread here but does anybody think this group should have more elements found in others such as Group reads, Word Games, miscellaneous etc.

We have a thread for Philosophic issues in Classic Literature, what about a thread for philosophy in modern writing. For example, in The Pawn by Steven James, infact in the entire series, there is a defite thread offering a philosopy, or a way of looking at life and trouble and how to accept life on life's terms for those who wish to see it.

Yet, it is also a very dark crime story about catching serial killers that stands on it's own as very good without the message. Perhaps a thread about this, which likely should include some writing like Ted Dekker's Red, White and Black trilogy.

And yet another topic might be for "unexpected philosophy" in works that likely have no purpose but to entertain, yet have an unexpected thread of hope in them. (for example: Robert Crais first Joke Pike novel (11th or 12th Elvis Cole Novel) The Watchman has a wonderful explaination of what it means to be "Seen" to be taken seriously.)

Thanks for the reminder. I did say I was going to do that.

I joined this group on philosophy in hopes that there would be intelligent discussions on the current attempt of the republican party to continue to turn our government into a fascist takeover by the foreign,transnational and multi-national corporations that have no allegience to this nation nor its citizens.

I would like you to perhaps do this one yourself. I'm afraid I do not pay too much attention to America.

Ronald P wrote: "I joined this group on philosophy in hopes that there would be intelligent discussions on the current attempt of the republican party to continue to turn our government into a fascist takeover by t..."

Here are a list of potential discussion topics that I felt reflected what Ronald wished to discuss. Let me know if I am missing something, as my personal bias in this subject will undoubtedly be reflected in the content of the list.

Republican politics
Libertarianism and other economic ethics
Neoliberal, or classical liberal, economics and its discontents
Political influence and speech status of money
Constitutional rights of corporations
Economic interests of politicians
- Personal business
- Insider trading
- Bribes
International corporate politics and economics
Influence of electoral policies and methods
Manufactured consent and the view of citizen inequality

We could select one or a few of topics and begin to discuss them under a new thread, if that is agreeable.

That is agreeable but I think I'll go even more general as I forgot to put in a thread for Political Philosophy.

I think a thread for political philosophy, as suggested, is a great idea. Especially a discussion on how it has changed in America since 1776—and also what has remained constant i.e. some underlying principles of the Constitution.