Subjective Thinking: Kierkegaard on Hegel's Socrates

Kierkegaard , Socrates and Existential Individuality

The 19 century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard was a profoundly religious thinker. He is also regarded as the father of Existentialism, one of the most important philosophical movements of the 20 century. The term ‘existentialist’ is applied to those philosophers, like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, who held that the foundation of all philosophical thought is to be found in the actual,...

Socrates and Plato on Poetry

Misunderstanding Socrates

THE NOTION OF A Socratic PHILOSOPHY, as distinct from what is commonly known as Platonism, has its origins in the work of Gregory Vlastos1 and continues today through the scholars he has influenced.2 The Socratic movement in Plato studies maintains that one can identify in certain Platonic dialogues a philosophical method and a collection of philosophical theses which may properly be attributed...

Think Bubbles and Socrates: Teaching Critical Thinking to Millennials in Public Relations Classes

Critical thinking skills are crucial in the public relations profession, but teaching these skills to the Millennial Generation is vastly different from previous generations. How can a professor get past No Child Left Behind’s dependence on test review guides and “everybody wins” in getting students to think for themselves? Using the Socratic method along with thinking tools/exercises, students...

Socrates, Skinner, and Aristotle: Three Ways of Thinking About Culture in Action1

The cultural turn has been one of the major shifts in sociology over the last two decades. Though nearly everyone now agrees that culture matters, how it matters is not terribly clear. What, exactly, is culture supposed to do? In this essay, I articulate two ideal-typical—though often implicit—ways most sociologists have thought about culture’s role in action. Although no single sociologist or ...