Perhaps one of the most difficult areas of creating a more simple life is getting one’s finances under control. In the U.S. particularly, many people seem to always expand their standard of living to just beyond their means, which piles on debt. There’s also an overwhelming amount of financial advice available, often conflicting. Sorting through it… Continue reading A Personal Story: Escaping Debt and Simplifying Finances
Author: JJ Sylvia IV
J.J. Sylvia IV attended Mississippi State University where he received B.A. degrees in philosophy and communications. He later received a philosophy M.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Meditations of Descartes
A look at Descartes’ Meditations, with particular emphasis on epistemology.
On Simplifying
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working hard to continue simplifying my life, and I wanted to share some of the things I’ve done and my reflections on the process. Living Space LKAwesome and I realized that we essentially moved from a combined 9 bedrooms worth of living space into 2. To achieve this,… Continue reading On Simplifying
An Educational Philosophy Contrast
vs. In what may be described as an overzealous use of the library, my first trip to Wake County libraries consisted of searching for “Montessori” and checking out every in-stock book that appeared. While mostly successful, a few books that weren’t really Montessori related slipped under the radar, namely Amy WIlson’s In… Continue reading An Educational Philosophy Contrast
The Montessori Diet and the Pace of Science
I recently reviewed Maria Montessori’s . Although there were some interesting ideas about pedagogy, the other element that stood out was how outdated some of the science discussed has become. Although this occurred in several different spots, it was most prominent in the section on nutrition. For example: The diet of little children must be rich in… Continue reading The Montessori Diet and the Pace of Science
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
This week, a look at Plato’s Allegory of the Cave:
Philosophy Book Review: The Montessori Method
As a follow-up to the reading of Dewey’s Democracy and Education, I recently read The Montessori Method. Written in 1914, it purports to be one of – if not the first – attempt at scientific pedagogy. The emphasis is on designing education around a method that actually works for the way children behave naturally, rather than… Continue reading Philosophy Book Review: The Montessori Method
The Socratic Method
I thought I would share the videos I’m creating for my Introduction to Philosophy class in case you’re looking to learn a little more about philosophy. This week we discuss the Socratic Method:
On Eliminating Poverty
Recently, we’ve been discussing Peter Singer’s book. Last time we noted that most people think the U.S. devotes more of its budget to foreign aid than it actually does. And even when you include private giving, the U.S. is still last in giving among developed nations. Today, I want to focus on that idea of… Continue reading On Eliminating Poverty
Learn To Meditate: W3D1
This week’s meditation from the is the technique Noting Body Sensations. This is exactly what it sounds like. As opposed to last week when we were listening to the noises outside of us, we’re “listening” to the sensations within our own body. Overall, very similar to last week. They key is to not dwell… Continue reading Learn To Meditate: W3D1