The Eudaimonist

Reflections on civilisation, philosophy, and culture.

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

Plato’s Republic is one of the foundational works of Western civilisation. If you’ve never had a chance to read it, here’s a crash course to help you get to grips with this staggering and perennially relevant work of philosophy. 🧵

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@AristosHieron Thank Hieronymus. Very kind and wise words. The desire to write for myself is actually one of the motivations for taking a break. Trying to appease the algorithm is proving a distraction from more meaningful work. Back soon, I hope.

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

To the small number of my followers who are still seeing and engaging with my posts, I’m taking a break for a while. It’s clear that X ain’t buying what I’m selling right now, which is fine, but it’s no fun posting into the abyss. So I’ll try again sometime in the future when the algo may have changed.

I’ve experienced a monumental decline in impressions and engagement for no discernible reason, and it’s no exaggeration to say that I had more reach when I only had a couple of hundred followers. It feels like my account is being heavily penalised. I have no idea why, but that’s the way it goes.

Hopefully back soon ✌️

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@joce_leigh Thanks Jocelyn. Typical that the algorithm actually starts showing my posts to people as soon as I announce I’m leaving for a bit haha

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@TimothyBCE Thanks Timothy

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@idealistatlarge Thank you Tamara. I’m planning to come back at some point though so stick around!

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@tommydragna It feels like the minimal expectation doesn’t it. They may as well eradicate followers altogether and just beam as much AI slop, political propaganda, and fight videos into our phones as they want

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@tommydragna Yeah but it’s hard when you don’t even seem to be able to reach them though 😂

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@tommydragna Totally. And it wasn’t always like this. You used to be able to post something high effort and it would get to people if it was good. Now if you don’t get reposted by a mutual with a huge account then the algorithm doesn’t seem to show it to anyone at all

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@JoshLukeRoberts Appreciate it 🙏

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@tommydragna It certainly seems that way. I know that a lot of accounts in our general orbit are having similar problems. Weird.

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@JoshLukeRoberts Thank you Joshua

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

“You who govern public affairs, what need have you to employ punishments? Love virtue, and the people will be virtuous. The virtues of superior man are like the wind; the virtues of a common man are like the grass — the grass, when the wind passes over it, bends."

— Thoreau

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

‘Democracy’ here of course meaning the established ruling class of liberal elites to which Mr Davey belongs.

[Ed Davey @EdwardJDavey]

Elon Musk is deliberately using his platform to poison our politics and divide our country.

It's time for the government to wake up to the threat he poses to our democracy

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

This is a brilliantly concise summary by @Dominic2306 on the UK’s multiculturalism problem.

[Liv Boeree @Liv_Boeree]

@Dominic2306 I really liked your explanation here why the multiculturalism experiment failed so hard in Britain, but was largely successful in the USA:

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

I disagree. A normative statement cannot be in logical contradiction to a description about the world. They are two different categories. “Thou shall not kill” cannot be derived from statements like “humans can suffer” or even “humans don’t want/like to be murdered”.

I understand the strengths of your position— I think reason has a part to play in thinking about morality— I just think it’s flawed as a framework for moral objectivity.

Anyway, I’ve think I’ve said all I can on this. Thanks for the conversation, I’ve enjoyed speaking with you!

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@Pavel_Stankov @PAHoyeck I haven’t personally endorsed a standard by which the validity of a moral claim can be adduced. I have simply said that deriving morality from rational principles alone is one option among other competing moral frameworks, and that its validity isn’t self-evident.

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

You’re returning to this idea that morality is about discourse and the need to persuade others of the rightness or the wrongness of a proposition. This is what I mean about privileging rationality.

In Nietzsche, power *is* the principle. Might is right. If I can subdue you, I make the rules.

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

I reject the first claim. A moral framework rooted in a kind of Nietzschean will to power has obvious explanatory/predictive force. Secondly, I’m not saying that rationality has no place in *talking* about ethics. We can give reasons for our ethical beliefs— i.e. faith in God— but this doesn’t mean they are *grounded* in principles that can be derived purely through the application of reason.

[The Eudaimonist @TheEudaimonist]

@Pavel_Stankov @PAHoyeck Why are the alternatives I gave to you initially not viable?