By Norris Frederick In Part One (which you can read here), I wrote about my friendship with David McKnight, beginning in the mid-60’s with high school, where he was voted “Most Likely to Succeed,” until…
by Dr. Norris Frederick “No one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all the other good things.” – Aristotle[1] David McKnight 1966 high school yearbook Aristotle is right: who would want…
by Dr. Norris Frederick As you think about the coming year, or your life in general, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Is it better to be one rather than the other? Or…
“You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just…
painting by Neville Herbert-Reynolds By Norris Frederick “I love my life, Dad. “I love your life too, Dad. “I’m just curious about life, not death, I just like thinking about life.” It’s a late May…
by Dr. Norris Frederick Bottle Trees We took a trip to visit our friend Flo recently. She still lives independently, at age ninety-four, in her house, with the help of a community of friends and…
Dr. Norris Frederick I’ve been traveling down interstates 77 and 81 for about 3 hours, and the roar of trucks going 75 mph is getting to me. I’m on the way to the Virginia mountains…
Newport Beach, California By Dr. Norris Frederick Since I wrote my post in early May, “Philosophy for the Pandemic: Stoicism”, the epidemiologists’ warnings about what could happen when stay-at-home restrictions were relaxed have come true:…
by Dr. Norris Frederick In the video clip [1], George Carlin asks with his inimitable humor, “That’s the whole meaning of life, isn’t it: trying to find a place to put your stuff?” In questioning…
By Dr. Norris Frederick This semester I’m teaching my course “Philosophy for Life: What do Great Philosophers and Current Science Have to Say about True Happiness and a Good Life?” [i] The course raises and…