All posts tagged: Medieval History

The Ancient Yet Relevant Morning Routine of Emperor Marcus Aurelius

The Ancient Yet Relevant Morning Routine of Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Published by Sam Flores

Published: Apr 16, 2026written by Igor Zanetti, BA Philosophy, BA Pedagogy   A morning routine is more than a set of tasks; it is a foundation for how we engage with the day ahead, our lives, and the world as a whole. Few historical figures embodied this idea as clearly as Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and philosopher. Known today for his work Meditations, Marcus Aurelius practiced Stoicism, a philosophy centered on self-control through virtue, and acceptance of what we cannot change. His mornings were dedicated to reflection and preparation, allowing him to face the challenges of leadership with clarity and purpose.   Who Was Marcus Aurelius? Morning with the Stoics, by Nathan Casteel, 2018. Source: Saatchi Art   Marcus Aurelius, born on April 26, 121 AD in Rome, is remembered as one of the most admired rulers in history. He served as Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD and is often referred to as the last of the “Five Good Emperors,” a title given to those whose leadership was marked by stability, fairness, …

What If Cephalopods Are the Closest Thing to Alien Intelligence?

What If Cephalopods Are the Closest Thing to Alien Intelligence?

Published by Sam Flores

Summary Cephalopods represent an “alien” intelligence on Earth, having evolved on a separate path from vertebrates for 600 million years. Unlike humans, their intelligence uses a distributed nervous system, with the majority of neurons located directly in their arms. Octopuses exhibit advanced problem-solving and tool use, like carrying coconut shells to build shelter or escaping complex enclosures. They challenge our anthropocentric view of intelligence, proving that complex minds can exist without human-like language or technology. Show more   Imagine evolution running its course again on a distant planet, producing intelligent life. Would it inevitably lead to creatures like us, with a central nervous system, complex language, and technology? Or could intelligence take a radically different form? This isn’t science fiction. Evolution did, in fact, run a second, independent experiment in crafting complex minds right here on Earth, diverging from our own path over half a billion years ago. The result? Ladies and gentlemen, the cephalopods! Marine animals whose intelligence challenges our assumptions about what a mind is and how it should work offer perhaps our best glimpse of an extraterrestrial …

5 Key Works in Epistemology That Answer How We Know What We Know

5 Key Works in Epistemology That Answer How We Know What We Know

Published by Sam Flores

  What does it mean to know something? It’s a question that feels simple until you really think about it. Is knowledge just having the right facts, relying on things others told you, or believing with your own eyes and common sense? Epistemology is pushing us to rethink how we understand truth, the nature of belief, and the limits of human understanding. Sometimes the result can be anticlimactic, when skepticism, the view through which philosophers express their doubt that we know anything at all, enters the scene. In this article, we’ll explore five books that have defined the field: two historical classics that laid the groundwork and three contemporary works that challenge and expand our thinking.   Work & Author Era / Publication Core Epistemological Contribution Theaetetus(Plato) c. 369 BC Explores knowledge as perception, true belief, or “true belief with an account,” ultimately ending in a state of puzzlement (aporia). Meditations on First Philosophy(René Descartes) 1641 Establishes foundationalism through a “method of doubt,” identifying the Cogito (“I think, therefore I am”) as the only indubitable …

What Is 4E Cognition? The Theory That Will Change the Way You Think of Your Own Mind

What Is 4E Cognition? The Theory That Will Change the Way You Think of Your Own Mind

Published by Sam Flores

  The traditional cognitive view, rooted in computationalism, sees the mind as an internal information processor. However, 4E cognition challenges this perspective, emphasizing the embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended nature of cognitive processes. Inspired by ecological psychology, pragmatism, and phenomenology, 4E views cognition as a dynamic interaction between the brain, body, and environment.   Traditional Cognitive View Photograph of Glen Beck and Betty Snyder Programming the ENIAC, the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, 1947. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The classical representational view of cognition derives from computers; it treats cognition as computational, meaning that it is a stepwise, serial process—transducing stimuli into symbolic expressions for processing and then further transforming them into particular outputs.   This is directly inspired by computerized operations and algorithmic computation through the manipulation of symbols or representation. The mental is, then, constituted by these internal representations.   This view remains highly influential in brain science, not because of the belief that the brain is like a computer; most brain scientists accept that there is more to the brain than …

5 Unexpected Philosophers Who Influenced St. Thomas Aquinas

5 Unexpected Philosophers Who Influenced St. Thomas Aquinas

Published by Sam Flores

Published: Apr 1, 2026written by John Tuttle, BA in Journalism & Mass Communications, Theology Summary The “Dark Ages” were not backward; the Islamic world preserved Greek philosophy, which was essential for thinkers like Aquinas. Aquinas heavily adopted Aristotle’s concepts of nature and his four causes for his own proofs for the existence of God. Aquinas and Plato agreed that the human soul is immortal and the seat of reason, though they differed on its relation to the body. Like Averroes, Aquinas argued the universe’s fine-tuned order points to a perfect, intelligent Creator rather than random chance. Islamic thinkers like Avicenna influenced Aquinas’s views on divine simplicity, the idea that God is a single, unified being. Show more   Born ca. 1225 AD, Thomas Aquinas is revered in some circles as highly as the ancient Greek and later Enlightenment-era thinkers. While the medieval philosopher’s works are still studied in many universities, ethicists and academics try to further interpret Thomistic thought, applying it to the issues of our day. Let’s dig into the philosopher’s own life and times before exploring the ideas from pagan …

The Key Ideas of the Mimamsa School of Classical Indian Philosophy

The Key Ideas of the Mimamsa School of Classical Indian Philosophy

Published by Sam Flores

Summary Mimamsa philosophy interprets early Vedas to define ritual duties (dharma), not to describe ultimate reality. The connection between words and their meanings is considered eternal and inherent, not based on human convention. Vedic language prescribes action and creates duties rather than simply describing the world as it is. Mimamsa’s ideas on language surprisingly resonate with the modern Western philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Show more   The humble quest of Mīmāṃsā thinkers consisted in seeking the right interpretation of the early Vedas, rather than the true description of reality or salvation. This means they did not waste much time on quarreling with peers who adhered to other schools of Indian philosophy, or darśanas. Mīmāṃsā became famous for its philosophy of language, in which a word’s meaning is inherent, while the connection between words and objects is eternal. This is a direct parallel to contemporary semantic realism in the Western philosophy of language. Moreover, to determine the proper way to perform Vedic rituals, prompted Mīmāṃsā thinkers to establish a codifiable set of actions prescribed as duties that may resonate with some of the pinnacles …

The Vedanta School of Philosophy That Sought to Break the Cycle of Birth, Death, and Rebirth

The Vedanta School of Philosophy That Sought to Break the Cycle of Birth, Death, and Rebirth

Published by Sam Flores

Summary Vedānta, meaning “the end of the Vedas,” is a philosophy focused on God-realization to break the rebirth cycle. Its three main sub-schools are Advaita (non-dualism), Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism), and Dvaita (dualism). Advaita Vedānta teaches the individual soul (Ātman) is ultimately identical to the ultimate reality (Brahman). In contrast, Dvaita Vedānta argues the soul and God (Brahman) are eternally distinct and separate realities. Vedānta’s concepts parallel debates in modern Western philosophy, especially regarding monism, pluralism, and consciousness. Show more   Vedānta literally translates as “the end of the Vedas,” and it has never been conceived as a single doctrine. Vedānta concerns the realization of God in our world, thereby cutting across the core ideas of Hinduism, such as Atman, Brahman, and attaining salvation by breaking the shackles of the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Nonetheless, it would be wrong to consider Vedānta as a contribution to a purely theistic cause because this particular darśana offered a radical and transformative view of consciousness. And what would Western philosophy be without the debates about consciousness? I guess a lot shorter, and with far less existential dread.   …

The Yoga School of Philosophy That Sought Liberation From Suffering

The Yoga School of Philosophy That Sought Liberation From Suffering

Published by Sam Flores

Summary Philosophical Yoga is the cessation of the mind’s fluctuations, aiming to calm restless thoughts for ultimate clarity. It distinguishes between pure consciousness (puruṣa) and matter (prakṛti) to explain the root of human suffering. Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras codified Yoga as a formal school of Indian philosophy around the 3rd-4th century AD. The Eightfold Path (aṣṭāṅga yoga) is a structured guide from moral discipline and postures to deep meditative absorption. Yoga’s view of consciousness parallels modern philosophy’s “hard problem,” exploring how subjective awareness arises in a physical world. Show more   In the West, “yoga” is synonymous with fitness studios, wellness retreats, and mindfulness apps. However, in this article, we will cover Yoga as one of the six classical schools, or darśanas, of Indian philosophy. Closely allied with Sāṃkhya, it shares much of its metaphysical framework while adding a program of practice. Within this darśana, the human mind was seen as restless and constantly spinning with thoughts, until it was calmed through disciplined meditative and physical practice, allowing puruṣa to shine forth in its pure form. Liberation from suffering and the vicious cycle of birth, …

The Oddly Modern Philosophy of Vaisesika, One of Classical Indian Philosophy’s Schools

The Oddly Modern Philosophy of Vaisesika, One of Classical Indian Philosophy’s Schools

Published by Sam Flores

  Vaiśeṣika is one of six philosophical schools or darśanas. The common denominator among all schools was the acceptance of the authority of the Vedas and the idea that true knowledge enables achieving salvation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara). Vaiśeṣika, however, offered a naturalistic framework, classifying entities into categories (padārthas) and positing atoms (paramāṇu) as the building blocks of matter. Although in our Western intellectual landscape we associate Democritus as the father of atomism, who paved the way for discoveries in 20th-century physics, the metaphysics of Vaiśeṣika is oddly modern. Although there is textual evidence that Democritus, as well as other Presocratic thinkers, traveled to the East, it is hard to establish direct connections.   The Invention of Vaiśeṣika: When, Where, Who? Illustration of gurus from the printed publication of the Suraj Prakash, 1884. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Vaiśeṣika takes its name from the Sanskrit word viśeṣa, meaning “particularity” or “distinction,” and referring to existing, different, innumerable, individual entities. Its central concern is how to classify and explain reality in its …

Baudrillard’s Hyperreality and the Age of Instagram

Baudrillard’s Hyperreality and the Age of Instagram

Published by Sam Flores

  What are you thinking about when scrolling that Instagram feed? Do you think everything here is real? Or maybe it is an illusion we confuse with reality? French thinker Jean Baudrillard calls this “hyperreality.” It is a state where illusions and simulations are more real than real life. When we create these online images, we start thinking that these picture-perfect online figures are who we are in real life. But the reality is different. And Baudrillard’s hypothesis is applicable here and now as never before. Why? That is the question we need to explore.   What Is Hyperreality? Baudrillard’s Theory Made Simple Hyperreality, Adrienn Krahl, 2021. Source: Artsper   A philosophical concept created by Jean Baudrillard, hyperreality is when some things that copy reality seem to be more real than reality itself, for example, photos, videos, and filtered social media posts. When we are looking at them, well, we cannot say for sure whether they are real or created by AI.   Baudrillard explained it using four stages of what he calls the “sign” …