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Pseudo-Latin French Bullshit: The Cartesian Castle
In Misattributed to Socrates, I announced my opposition to "misquotation, misattribution, the retailing of unsourced quotations, the passing off of unchecked second-hand quotations, and sense-altering context suppression." But I left one out: the willful fabrication of 'quotations.' And yesterday I...
Nicholas Nixon: urban views
Nicholas Nixon, the US photographer's early architectural views Boston and New York taken from rooftops in the mid-seventies were exhibited at New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape at the George Eastman House in 1975. Nicholas Nixon, View of State Street, Boston, 1976, from the series Boston Views 1974 â??...
Almost Persuaded. Why?
As a musical accompaniment to this discussion, I am linking to the Louvin Brothers' rendition of the traditional hymn "Almost Persuaded." A most remarkable singing sensation from the 50s and the early 60s, though nearly forgotten now. Show More Summary
The World's Criterion of Worth
Something is worth doing if and only if one is paid to do it. The theme is developed in Work, Money, Living, and Livelihood.
Obama the Sophist
Victor Davis Hanson: [...] In short, Obama is the most impressive sophist of his age. In classical rhetoric, when the speaker was about to equivocate, he added an emphatic adjective or parenthetical that he was never more candid...
On Throwing Latin, and a Jab at the 'Analysts'
If you are going to throw Latin, then you ought to try to get it right. One of my correspondents sent me an offprint of a paper of his which had been published in American Philosophical Quarterly, a very good...
Sweet Dreams of Dennett
The following first appeared on 15 January 2006 at the old Powerblogs site. Here it is again, considerably reworked............ I saw Daniel Dennett's Sweet Dreams (MIT Press, 2005) on offer a while back at full price, but declined to...
The Evolution of Darwinian Liberalism
I will be travelling in South America in June and early July--a week in the Machu Picchu area of Peru, two weeks in the Galapagos Islands, and a week in the Amazonian area of eastern Ecuador. For the second week in the Galapagos, I will...Show More Summary
Der Untergang des Abendlandes: Further Commentary
Poetically translated: The Going Under of the Land of the Evening. Literally: The Decline of the West. Victor Davis Hanson, Western Cultural Suicide. The philosopher in me likes it that Hanson begins with a distinction and ends with a paradox....
Dallas Willard on Being and Modes of Being
How do we best honor a philosopher, especially one who has passed on? By taking him seriously as an interlocutor and re-enacting his thoughts, sympathetically yet critically. What follows is pp. 37-42 of my article, "The Moreland-Willard-Lotze Thesis on Being,"...
Two Senses of Providing Reasons
I will like to introduce a distinction between two senses in which a psychological state, X, may provide one with a reason to adopt a belief or intention. My hope is that the distinction is both clear and intuitive. So here it is: (1)...Show More Summary
The Devil and Philosophy
Robert Arp has issued a call for abstracts for The Devil and Philosophy: Deliberation, Deduction, Debate, and Details, of Course. This will be in the Open Court pop culture and philosophy series. You can find the call for abstracts here....
Against lobbying
by Massimo PigliucciRecently I’ve had a Twitter “discussion” with my friend Michael DeDora (I know, the meaning of the term here is a bit stretched: think of having discussions on Twitter as analogous to being forced to write Haiku poetry. Show More Summary
Unexperienced Virtual Realities
I've long thought that a shared virtual world could, in principle, be just as "real" (in any sense that matters) as the material world. But Helen recently got me thinking about what we metaphysical anti-chauvinists should say about "virtual...Show More Summary
Sensus Divinitatis: Nagel Defends Plantinga Against Grayling
Anthony Grayling writes: The problem with Alvin Plantinga’s defense of theism is a simple but wholly vitiating one [Where the Conflict Really Lies, reviewed by Thomas Nagel in “A Philosopher Defends Religion,” NYR, September 27, 2012]. It is that it...
The Self as Center of Narrative Gravity?
According to the The New York Times, Daniel Dennett has a new book coming out entitled Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking. Here are a couple of tidbits from the NYT piece: The self? Simply a “center of narrative...
The 'No Spin' Zone is Gluten-Free!
Here. And so is my blog!
Man's Greatness Deducible From his Wretchedness
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): Man's greatness is so obvious that it can even be deduced from his wretchedness, for what is nature in animals is wretchedness in man, thus recognizing that, if his nature is today like that of the animals...
Government as a Special Interest
People complain of the undue influence of special influence groups in Washington, D. C. Government itself, however, is a special interest group. For it profits those who work for it, and those who, while not working for it, depend o...
Population Ethics: Bringing More People Into the World
Last week, I posted several articles on population ethics - the question of "How many people should there be?" Before moving on, I want to post an article that addresses this question more directly. It does not give an answer, but it...Show More Summary
