wintermute

I appreciate all of your feedback very much! csekavec, could you be more specific? Is it best, in your opinion, to start with something like a lecture series *about* Aristotle, or is it better to start with the works of Aristotle himself? I have read to some of his work myself, and it was somewhat dense, as I remember.

I would like your suggestions on the best way to become introduced to classical philosophy from a conservative perspective. I have a friend in her late 20s, has just returned from years of disaster relief work in Japan, and is now trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. I think philosophy is an essential means of figuring out the question of life, it's purpose and practice. What is the best way for a person to get started studying this? Is it best to dive straight into the Ethics of Aristotle and the Republic of Plato, or are there better options for getting introduced to the principals of this science?

I think the question isn't so much *if* America is going to fall apart, but how and when. I think we will see something like what happened in Venezuela occur here - widespread loss of basic infrastructure, price inflation, food shortages, etc. It's also possible that various states will secede during the resulting chaos and foreign superpowers will likely take over large portions of land as "peace keepers" (permanently). Am I the only one who sees things playing out this way?

I've been watching Stafan's videos for a month or so, and I like the un-biased and open-minded way in which he uses philosophical principals to analyze studies and statistics in order to reach the conservative conclusions for which he is known. I began reading and writing comments on his videos and found that I enjoyed the community of his listeners. I joined up here as a direct result of that. Politically, I grew up in John Birch meetings, was a loyal supporter of both Ron Paul and Rand Paul, and am a fan of Alex Jones. Religiously, I am a convert from Russian Orthodoxy to sedevacantist Catholicism, largely as a result of the same kind of reasoning process which I see Stefan practicing. Having spent many years studying pre-reformation theology and ecclesiastical history, I am delighted with Stefan's appreciation for the Greco-Roman philosophy that characterizes the essential character of Roman Christianity, both Eastern and Western.