Simon D'Alfonso

Wikipedia Articles of Interest

Relevance paradox

The relevance paradox occurs because people only seek information that they perceive is relevant to them. However there may be information (in its widest sense, data, perspectives, general truths etc) that is not perceived as relevant because the information seeker does not already have it, and only becomes relevant when he does have it. Thus the information seeker is trapped in a paradox.... more

Meno

Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. Written in the Socratic dialectic style, it attempts to determine the definition of virtue, or arete, meaning in this case virtue in general, rather than particular virtues (e.g. justice, temperance, etc.). The goal is a common definition that applies equally to all particular virtues. Socrates moves the discussion past the philosophical confusion, or aporia, created by Meno's paradox with the introduction of new Platonic ideas: the theory of knowledge as recollection, anamnesis, and in the final lines a movement towards Platonic idealism.... more

Totalitarian Democracy

Totalitarian democracy is a term made famous by Israeli historian J. L. Talmon to refer to a system of government in which lawfully elected representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, have little or no participation in the decision-making process of the government. The phrase had previously been used by Bertrand de Jouvenel and E.H. Carr.... more

Vacuous Truth

A vacuous truth is a truth that is devoid of content because it asserts something about all members of a class that is empty or because it says "If A then B" when in fact A is false. For example, the statement "all cell phones in the room are turned off" may be true simply because there are no cell phones in the room.... more

Giovanni Bottesini

Giovanni Bottesini (December 22, 1821 - July 7, 1889) was an Italian Romantic composer, conductor, and a double bass virtuoso.... more