The painted veil, by those who were, called life, Which mimicked, as with colours idly spread, All men believed or hoped, is torn aside; The loathsome mask has fallen, the man remains Sceptreless, free, uncircumscribed, but man Equal, unclassed, tribeless, and nationless, Exempt from awe, worship, degree, the king Over himself; just, gentle, wise: but … [continue reading]
Author Archives: Z
Professional Philosophy For and Against the Enlightenment.
The modern university and modern philosophy, alike, are founded on the intellectual, moral, and political ideals of the Enlightenment. But in the second decade of the 21st century, an era in which the university is not only intensely pressured from without by the demands of neoliberal politics and advanced capitalist values, but also intensely pressured … [continue reading]
McPublic Philosophy.
Recently, I received the following bit of e-propaganda from the APA– Dear Z, I am writing today to let you know that the APA board of officers has approved the following statement, which was proposed by the committee on public philosophy and the committee on the status and future of the profession: The American Philosophical … [continue reading]
Ivory Bunker Mentality, Par Excellence: L’Affaire Tuvel.
Today is the final round of the French Presidential run-offs, between Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, and Marine Le Pen, an alt-right, neo-fascist, neoliberal female counterpart of US President Donald Trump. As of this moment, the outcome of the Macron-Le Pen run-off is unknown. But Kant willing, the French voting public won’t make the same tragicomic … [continue reading]
Professional Philosophy and the Normalized Intellectual.
For more than 35 years, I’ve been amazed, amused, bemused, and appalled by professional academic philosophy–my varying mental states cascading over one another, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, both in alternation and in combination. A question that has always intrigued and worried me, right from the time I … [continue reading]
This Be The Worse: An Anarcho-Poem.
The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? (H.D. Thoreau, Walden I, “Economy”) With Apologies to Philip Larkin, and Malice toward Some. … [continue reading]
Professional Philosophy and the Moral Ambiguity of The March for Science.
Natural science, as we all know, is the systematic pursuit of truth about the material or physical world in space and time, a systematic pursuit that is grounded on empirical evidence, guided by the formal sciences of mathematics and logic, and driven by general theories. But natural science, aka science, must be sharply distinguished from … [continue reading]
The Elective Affinity Between Analytic Philosophy and the Political Status Quo. Some Apocalyptic Follow-Up Thoughts on “On the Emergence of American Analytic Philosophy"
In a very cool recent article in British Journal for the History of Philosophy, “On the Emergence of American Analytic Philosophy,” Joel Katzav and Krist Vaesen argue, compellingly, that the mid-20th century emergence of Analytic philosophy in the USA consisted in an institutional take-over of leading philosophy departments and leading journals by Analytic philosophers, in … [continue reading]
Il Faut Cultiver Notre Jardin.
The history of [Candide’s] world-famous phrase, which serves as the book’s conclusion – il faut cultiver notre jardin – is … peculiar. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it didn’t come into written use in English until the early 1930s – in America through Oliver Wendell Holmes and in Britain thanks to Lytton Strachey. But … [continue reading]