1.One doesn’t have to be a Kantian to realize that, other things being equal, treating people (oneself or others) merely as means, that is, treating people merely as instruments to the achievement of some other end that is beyond the best interests or dignity of those people themselves, is a morally bad thing. Of course … [continue reading]
Cognitive Self-Sovereignty.
APP Editors’ note: Abelard is a full-time lecturer in philosophy at a public university somewhere in North America. Other recent discussions of Heavy Duty Enlightenment on APP include: From Enlightenment Lite to Nihilism: How Professional Philosophy Has Totally Let Everyone Down about the Real Purpose of an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Education. Beyond Enlightenment Lite. You … [continue reading]
The AOS is a ASS.
“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble,… “the law is a ass—a idiot.” –Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch, 51. 1. Recently I read Samuel Wheeler’s very cool and insightful essay, “Specialization and the Future of Analytic Philosophy,” on the malign impact and implications of endemic, forced specialization, both early- and hyper-, in contemporary professional … [continue reading]
Advice from MIT on Preparing a Philosophy Writing Sample.
APP Editors’ note: This memo was shared by one of our readers, who teaches in a top-ranked philosophy department somewhere in North America. See also Philosophical Rigor as Rigor Mortis, Or, How to Write a Publishable Paper Without Even Having to Think. The most important thing is to label your theses. Even if your views … [continue reading]
POOCs Without PAWs (Philosophy Open Online Courses Without PAy Wall Shit), and Why the Internet Might Be a Primary Vehicle for Real Liberal Arts Education and Real Philosophy.
Z: Recently I’ve been thinking lots about how a real liberal arts education—i.e., a liberal arts education that hasn’t run into the neo-conservative cultural cul de sac and nihilist abyss of what William Deresiewicz so aptly calls the “neo-liberal arts,” and is aimed at Heavy Duty Enlightenment, not Enlightenment Lite–-might be really possible, about real … [continue reading]
[email protected].
1. By personal problems, I mean large or small individual or first-person difficulties, that need to be dealt with, and can be controlled to some extent by that first-person. 2. But an existential problem, as I will understand it, is a personal problem that is so profound and severe that it seriously raises the question … [continue reading]
Beyond Enlightenment Lite.
APP Editors’ note: Boethius is a tenured associate professor of philosophy at a public university somewhere in North America. In a recent APP post, Z critically compares-and-contrasts Enlightenment Lite and Heavy Duty Enlightenment. I think most would agree with the basic complaint, namely that it’s a poor excuse for an undergraduate education to say it’s … [continue reading]
On Having the Name ‘Z’.
1. Recently, in reply to what I thought was a very friendly, polite, and even slightly amusing e-mail letter telling him about APP, a well-known Analytic philosopher of science–whose name I won’t name–sent me this fairly nasty little note: “Dear X,Y and Z, I tend to prefer opinions, good, bad, inane as they may be, … [continue reading]
Philosoflicks 2, Installment 2: Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus, Volume 1, Chapter 1.
WHAT IS A PHILOSOFLICK? In “Let’s Make More Movies,” the epistemological anarchist Paul Feyerabend wrote this: The separation of subjects that is such a pronounced characteristic of modern philosophy is … not altogether undesirable. It is a step on the way to a more satisfactory type of myth. What is needed to proceed further is … [continue reading]
In Praise of Semi-Professional Philosophy.
I have written in reply to a previous Edgy Essay about the benefits of membership in the Semi-Professional Academic State, which is to say the benefits of teaching at a small undergraduate university. Since such universities generally care less about one’s Reputation in the Philosophy Profession, one is more or less at liberty to think, … [continue reading]