Even if historical series of philosophical inquiries in many fields do not seem to converge satisfactorily toward significant asymptotes, this fact alone does not prove that all members of the series are equally false, only that human fallibility is ubiquitous. The study of the history of philosophy offers the prospect of disentangling some of the controversies and of appreciating some of the accomplishments of a range of philosophies over the course of history.  The first purpose of this website is to give notice of the availability of one book (paperback or e-book format) in the history of philosophy that deals with final causes.  The second purpose of this website is to present a philosophy blog by Robert S. Bretzlaff, Ph.D., on more current issues.

     In Book VII, Chapter 15 of his Politics, Aristotle says that since the end of individuals and states is the same, the virtues of leisure should exist in each: Peace is the end of war, and leisure is the end of toil. If, as the poets say, there are some inhabitants on the Islands of the Blessed, then they above all others will need philosophy and the cardinal virtues, and all the more the more leisure they have.  However, Kant maintains, woe betide those inhabitants who venture forth to explore speculative seas without adequate navigational tools: In the Critique of Pure Reason (A366 – A396) speculative claims are limited to a narrow domain along the continuous coastline of our experience.