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Ivan Bock

@ivanbock.bsky.social

650 followers 770 following 380 posts

PhD (Phil) student at Stellenbosch Uni. I blog infrequently. Interested in virtue ethics, moral psychology, pragmatism, existentialism, agnosticism, moral anti-realism, and skepticism. Life is luck! Be kind to all! Blog: ivanbock.wordpress.com

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · Aug 1

One reason I like this conception of wisdom is how well it works to guide behavior. Want to be wise? Then: read and learn widely, act like those who you think live well/rationally, keep trying and improving, and stay humble! Certainly not easy, but totally doable and worthwhile.
#philsky #wisdom

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · Jul 31

From the SEP article on wisdom:
S is wise iff:
S has a wide variety of epistemically justified beliefs
S has a wide variety of justified beliefs on how to live rationally
S is committed to living rationally
S has very few unjustified beliefs and is sensitive to her limitations.
#philsky #wisdom

A screenshot of section 5 in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Wisdom, which summarises the Deep Rationality Theory by Sharon Ryan as:
S is wise iff:
1. S has a wide variety of epistemically justified beliefs on a wide variety of valuable academic subjects.
2. S has a wide variety of justified beliefs on how to live rationally (epistemically, morally, and practically).
3. S is committed to living rationally.
4. S has very few unjustified beliefs and is sensitive to her limitations.

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 2d

I really like the SEP, but it does have a few entries that aren't too great. The other day I shared the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entry on Miracles as I thought it did a better job than SEP. It is a shame, but philosophy has always had mixed quality scholarship.

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 5d

Truly a beautiful time in Cape Town as the flowers start to bloom. Our bird-of-paradise plants are looking great!
#flowers #capetown

Picture of a bird-of-paradise flower (strelitziaceae).

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 9d

Do you perhaps have the source for this quote? I cannot find it in Meditations, and trying to track down the origin via Google seems to both cite Aurelius and Euripides, but without text references or specifics.
It also doesn't really sound like Marcus Aurelius...

Reposted by Ivan Bock

Evelyndroid's Aperture Séance and Spooky Spood-Finding 🏳️‍⚧️🕷️ @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social · 12d

#EmotionalSupportSpood #Arachtober
Little Brown Creeper boy missing a palp and looking very small (they always do) 🥹

Tiny brown jumping spider with stubby stripy legs, peering at you shyly from tree bark

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 17d

"Whoever knows that he is profound strives for clarity; whoever would like the crowd to think he is profound strives for obscurity. The reason for this is that the crowd thinks something is profound whenever it cannot see to the bottom of it" - Nietzsche
#philsky

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 17d

Definitely. I know some think it is being nitpicky, but without it the actual usefulness and depth of stoicism is lost. This is especially true for these sorts of quotes that just focus on basic resilience and leave out the psychology and ethics.

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 17d

Yeah, I agree with the technical distinction you are making here. Nietzche put this point well. We must not 'love' or 'enjoy' suffering. Rather, we must not let hardship stop us from doing what we can, and finding joy during hard times is fine. But we should not pretend hard times are 'good'.

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Reposted by Ivan Bock

Philosophy Bits @philosophybits.com · 19d

“There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.”

— William James, Memories and Studies

#philosophy #philsky

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Reposted by Ivan Bock

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 21d

"Given their disciplinary expertise, we believe that evolutionary scholars are uniquely equipped to critique these speculations, which borrow from EP’s credibility to advance a depreciatory view of women, while harming the public reputation of the field at large and in academia."

A Hundred and Two Just-So Stories: Exploring the Lay Evolutionary Hypotheses of the Manosphere | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core

A Hundred and Two Just-So Stories: Exploring the Lay Evolutionary Hypotheses of the Manosphere

www.cambridge.org

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 21d

Definitely agree with this. We need more critical eyes on lay people misusing evolutionary psychology to tell themselves convenient stories.

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Reposted by Ivan Bock

JA Westenberg @joanwestenberg.com · 24d

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is the laziest moral philosophy ever invented and I'm tired of pretending it's wisdom.

youtu.be/A1z2xW6Zyto

The Existential Danger of Stoic Sadism

When Marcus Aurelius started popping up everywhere, I thought maybe we were getting somewhere. But stoicism has twisted into something darker: stoic sadism, ...

www.youtube.com

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 23d

... are being driven by profit rather than truth/evidence (duh, no suprise here) - just so frustrating having to deal with this and being treated with suspicion without reason.
Rant over!

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 23d

... service provider that there were no other leaks when they finished the first day. All the evidence points to the second leak being there from the start and them just missing it. So this is clearly going to be a long struggle to get treated fairly.
It seems clear to me that their decisions ...

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 23d

... where they are asking for proof that the second leak was there from the start. I have already provided ample evidence that this is the case. But now they are claiming they will always side with the service provider without 'proof'. To which I had to reply and ask for the proof from the ...

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 23d

Currently busy dealing with our insurance regarding a leak and water damage to our home. This is so frustrating, as the service providers clearly missed a leak when they came the first time and are now claiming we need to submit a second claim for the 'new' leak.
We have now gotten to the point ...

Reposted by Ivan Bock

Daily Stoic @daily-stoic.bsky.social · 25d

"He who indulges empty fears earns himself real fears." Seneca

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Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 24d

Uninformed manosphere influencer: "No, no, I voted for a 'good strong man', not a bad one. A good strong man would have been awesome."

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 25d

“I voted for none of this."

Prominent influencers, including Theo Von, Joe Rogan, and Andrew Schulz, are starting to distance themselves from the president they helped propel to the White House.

Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 25d

A quote that gets to me every time:
"I must die. But must I die bawling?" - Epictetus

Stay strong and keep fighting the good fight.
#ethics #stoicism

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 26d

This is such an amazing passage from The Brothers Karamazov! It is easy to see why some considered Dostoyevsky to be a prophet.
Now more than ever, we must remeber this message. Don't foster solitude, foster brotherly love.
#booksky

A long passage from The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky.

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · 29d

As usual, Shaun hits it out of the park. This is a fantastic breakdown of the completely bullshit book, The War on Science. Have a look if you have the time.
youtu.be/tyU5Xkk6TuE?...

The War on Science

YouTube video by Shaun

youtu.be

Ivan Bock @ivanbock.bsky.social · Oct 1

It is a great piece of art. I bought a very large desk mat with The Great Wave printed on it. It is a great addition to my office. Now my desk feel like a better place to sit at for 8 hours a day.

Reposted by Ivan Bock

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Sep 29

This is my regular reminder to everyone that jstor is open to the general public now; a free account there will give you access to 100 papers a year.

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · Sep 29

regrettably if you try to point this out online you'll get yelled out by 79208 journalists going OH SO YOU WANT JOURNALISTS TO STARVE??? even if you're, say, a journalist yourself, and point out that while there are clearly no easy answers, the status quo isn't exactly working for society

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Reposted by Ivan Bock

Carme Isern-Mas @isernmas.bsky.social · Sep 26

New paper accepted!🎉

Is Taylor Swift responsible for how she makes her fans feel?

Yes; the notion of affective power (the ability to influence how others feel) can help identify the responsibilities celebrities have towards their fans.

w/ G.Mills & @alfredarcher.bsky.social

Preprint ⬇️

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Reposted by Ivan Bock

Philosophy Bits @philosophybits.com · Sep 25

“Each day acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes as well; and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be thoroughly digested that day.”

— Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius

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Reposted by Ivan Bock

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · Sep 20

this exists it is called thinking

Matthew McConaughey says he wants a private LLM, fed only with his books, notes, journals, and aspirations, so he can ask it questions and get answers based solely on that information, without any outside influence.

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