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Camus on Suicide
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest – whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories – comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer. -Albert Camus
The Sense of Contingency and the Sense of Absurdity
The parallel is fascinating and worth exploring. According to David Hume, "Whatever we conceive as existent, we can also conceive as non-existent." (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion) I've long believed Hume to be right about this. I would put it this...
Future Desires Do Not Count
Future desires do not count. This is not to say that future desires do not matter. They matter to some people. In fact, they happen to matter to many of us. When I say that future desires do not count, this is to be taken as reporting the real-world fact that a future desire is not a reason for action that exists. Show More Summary
London Beheading
I heard there was a beheading in London. At first I thought the perpetrator had to have been a Catholic nun or maybe a Buddhist monk. Imagine my shock when I learned that a practitioner of the Religion of Peace...
The Shape of State and Soul
by Steve NeumannI believe that this educational process has two sides — one psychological and one sociological; and that neither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evil results following. — John Dewey, My Pedagogic...Show More Summary
Can Life be Meaningless but not Absurd?
Thomas Nagel suggests as much at the end of Chapter 10, "The Meaning of Life," of his little introductory text, What Does It All Mean? (Oxford UP, 1987): If life is not real, life is not earnest, and the grave...
Universities as Leftist Seminaries
'Seminary,' like 'seminar,' is etymologically related to 'semen,' seed. seminary (n.) mid-15c., "plot where plants are raised from seeds," from Latin seminarium "plant nursery," figuratively, "breeding ground," from seminarius "of seed," from semen (genitive seminis) "seed" (see semen). Meaning "school...
This Blog is Gluten-Free!
Food faddism is a fascinating phenomenon. I am told that the consumption of paleolithic vittles conduces to weight loss. Maybe it does. But I say unto you: What doth it profit a man to lose weight if he suffereth the...
The Unlawful Are not Silicon Carbide
I hope that is something we can all agree on. My title is the literal translation of the fake-Latin Illegitimi non carborundum, often passed off jokingly or by the pseudo-erudite to mean "Don't let the bastards grind you down." A...
The Timidity of John Hibbing and the Grandeur of Biopolitical Science
Perspectives on Politics is one of the quarterly journals published by the American Political Science Association. The new issue (June 2013) is devoted largely to articles on the theme of "nature and politics," with special attention to the application of biology to politics. Show More Summary
The Value of More Possible Worlds
As a follow up to my last post, I gave been asked to compare another pair of possible worlds. [B]etween the following [pair] of worlds, which would desirism recommend ("neutral" or "toss a coin" is also an option)? (A-life = almost all...Show More Summary
Rationally Speaking podcast: Sean Carroll on philosophical naturalism
Astrophysicist and author Sean Carroll joins this episode of Rationally Speaking, to talk about "naturalism" - the philosophical viewpoint that there are no supernatural phenomena, and the universe runs on scientific laws.Sean, Julia,...Show More Summary
The no evidence charge revisited
Loftus asks if there is any evidence for Christianity. Of course, he's not the only one, lots of people say that about religious beliefs, not that there is poor evidence, or that the evidence is outweighed, but that there is no evidence. Show More Summary
L.A. Schools: No Suspension/Expulsion for Willful Defiance
I said a few entries back that liberals lack common sense. Here is further proof, as if further proof is needed: This week, the Los Angeles Unified School District—the second-largest in the nation—decided to end the practice of suspending or...
Will We Even Be Forgotten?
Not only will we be forgotten, we will be forgotten by people who never really knew us in the first place. So we will not even be forgotten. You can't remember a person you never knew.
Talk is Cheap
Talk is cheap, except when it isn't. There are vows, oaths, and solemn promises the breaking of which can be costly. There are Nixonian and Clintonian lies and cover-ups that exact a high price in the end. There are verbal...
Refutation By Joke
One behaviorist to another, "It was good for me, how was it for you?"
Quentin in a Dream
His eyes glowed a couple of times with a devilish green light. He was going on about how we are just physical systems. Me: "If so, why does this matter so much to you?"
Devil or Angel?
That she is strongly attracted to you does not decide the question.
