“But how lovely and how fitting the sound of the lively and impressive I of Socrates! It is the I of endless dialogue, and the air of dialogue is wafted around it in all its journeys.” — Martin Buber, I and Thou, 46 (Trans. Ronald Gregor Smith) Martin Buber was a 20th century Austrian-Israeli philosopher…
In this article I want to continue my discussion of Plato’s Philebus, a fascinating work in which Plato lays out his recipe for the good life. The passage I want to focus on today relates to Delphic ‘self-knowledge.’ In ancient Greece, an important religious temple at Delphi had on it the inscription, “know thyself” and this…
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is psychotherapeutic method for treating anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. A key component of CBT is the identifying and changing of cognitive distortions, or errors of thought, which interact with associated behaviors to negatively influence emotional states. It is rather well-known that there is some precedent for CBT in the…
What would you give to hear perhaps the world’s greatest philosopher share his personal recipe for the good life? This is exactly what we get in Plato’s The Philebus, one of his final works, and his ultimate say on the question of how an individual can live a good life. Is knowledge or pleasure more…
Cognitive distortions are errors of thought and/or belief that create false perceptions of reality and by doing so create emotional distress. Cognitive distortions can be contributing factors to anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. Identifying and reducing cognitive distortions is a core component of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which is one of the most well-regarded…
The foundational principle that underlies cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is that thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are interconnected. This relationship can be visualized with the CBT triangle (or cognitive triangle). Thoughts, behaviors, and emotions can be understood as three points on a triangle, and each one influences the other in a bilateral fashion. This means that: Cognitive…