MA: I had some follow-up thoughts on your recent critical study, “On Sebastian Rödl’s Self-Consciousness and Objectivity, Or, The Refutation of Absolute Idealism,” that I wanted to run by you. But first, a prefatory remark. I consider absolute idealism, and the various resultant constellations of self-consciousness, objectivity, knowledge and judgment, to be neither unintelligible nor … [continue reading]
Surrealism Is Not Fascism.
In a recent essay,[i] Andrew D. Chapman throws both Postmodernism and Surrealism into the “Fascism” pot. I won’t say anything here about whether Postmodernism belongs there or not, although I think this should be examined on a case-by-case basis.[ii] I doubt that such a blanket classification would stand up to scrutiny for all works and … [continue reading]
Captions #3–Philosophical Reflections On First Love And Picture-Perfect Experiences.
Previous Installments of Captions: #2: The Cartesian Corollary. #1: Captions (To The Cartoons We Live)–In Defense of Captions & A Curriculum Vitae. I met Annette when I was sixteen in a summer house on the Danish coast. She was 20. The summer I finished high school I went to Denmark to work on a farm. … [continue reading]
Why The Leiter Report’s Professional Academic Philosophy Rankings Are Misguided, Misleading, And Mistaken.
Genuine philosophical problems are always rooted in urgent problems outside philosophy, and they die if these roots decay (Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations) Philosophy itself never begins anything. This beginning has already happened elsewhere. That is why the theme of the beginning, seen purely and simply from within the realm of philosophy, provides us with … [continue reading]
The Mind-Body Politic: Born On The Fourth Of July.
The Mind-Body Politic, by Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna, is now available from Palgrave Macmillan, HERE. And a preview is also available, HERE. PREFACE A few months ago, Michelle asked her students, on the first day of their Fall Semester class on “Theories of Human Nature,” to consider their level of agreement with respect … [continue reading]
A Scholar’s Mistake.
Opening Moves Some sociologists of science carry Kuhn’s claim that theories (or theoretically grounded “paradigms”) are prior to observation much further. In particular, they recast the vocabulary of “prior beliefs” into the language of sociology: every scientific belief or commitment should be explained as the satisfaction of earlier sociological “interests.” Such interests may range from … [continue reading]
Smithereens: Reflections in a Black Mirror.
**Major Black Mirror spoilers ahead!** Last week, in the course of a single afternoon, two different people swerved and then bumped into me because their eyes were glued to their cell phones. Annoyed, but always trying to find some humor in things, I thought to myself, “should I just yell out ‘Smithereens!’ whenever this happens?” … [continue reading]
Identity Ad Absurdum: A Critique of the Cultural Appropriation Argument.
THINKING FOR A LIVING: A PHILOSOPHER’S NOTEBOOK (SECOND SERIES, INSTALLMENT 13) PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS IN THE SECOND SERIES #12: Neo-Kantianism and anti-Kantianism: a primer for contemporary philosophers. #11: From Bertrand Russell to Brazilian carnaval: how to make the world as it could be made. #10: The crisis in higher education–what is to be done? #9: Philosophy … [continue reading]
Fortune Cookies.
May cut into strips and insert in next recipe for deep-fried life* New roofs and new trees are a new sky. New sky renews the heart. New actions renew the mind. Together they are a renaissance. To look straight ahead is as simple as putting on a mask. The road to hell may be paved … [continue reading]
On Paul Bali’s “How I Got Fired By The Ryerson Philosophy Department.”
Nemo: I just read Paul Bali’s “How I Got Fired By The Ryerson Philosophy Department.” I imagine this situation is all too common and vastly under-reported; most people would be devastated, depressed and cowed and perhaps few would have resisted the process. I wonder what was the agenda of the instigator of this affair, the … [continue reading]