If you don't know what the acronym "PPT" means, consider yourself lucky that you have avoided a work or social context where doing presentations is required. If you are like me, the power of those three letters to inspire dread is almost unparalleled. The phrase 'Can you put together some slides...' evokes panic, fear and nausea made worse only when accompanied Continue Reading …
Civics via Schoolhouse Rock
During our recording on the Federalist Papers, we mentioned at some point Schoolhouse Rock, a PBS television series that ran regularly when I was a child. For anyone who doesn't know, it was a cartoon with skits and songs about grammar, science, civics, American History and some other topics. In addition to state and federal civics classes in junior high and high school (do Continue Reading …
Red State, Blue State, One State, Two States
Steven Pinker of Harvard recently posted an article on The Stone at the New York Times called "Why Are States So Red and Blue?" His summary of his thesis: The North and coasts are extensions of Europe and continued the government-driven civilizing process that had been gathering momentum since the Middle Ages. The South and West preserved the culture of honor that emerged in Continue Reading …
15 Minutes of Fame
Andy Warhol famously said that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." This is commonly interpreted to mean that the hierarchical structure that identified worthy subjects of art - 'celebrities' - from those not worthy - 'civilians' (thanks Liz!) was breaking down. In other words the structure that delineated who was famous from who was not would break Continue Reading …
The Value of Writing (Non-Fiction)
In a recent article in The Atlantic, Peg Tyre documents the remarkable turnaround in student performance at an underperforming high school when the curriculum was altered to put a focus on analytic writing. Analytic writing, it turns out, is a marker of critical thinking: if you can craft clear and coherent written sentences, paragraphs and essays it generally means you have Continue Reading …
Seth’s Interview with Dan Mullin
Dan Mullin is a philosophy grad student and part-time teacher who runs a blog called The Unemployed Philosopher's Blog. His mission statement is to challenge the view that a philosophical education isn't of much value for employment. As he says: My name is Daniel Mullin and I’m a philosophy grad student and part-time teacher. The other part of the time, I’m unemployed Continue Reading …
Rick Roderick on Nietzsche on Truth and Lie
As usual, Rick Roderick proves to be a great go-to guy on Nietzsche. In this series of videos (one lecture put together by Daniel Horne), he takes on the accusation that Nietzsche is taking a relativist stance towards truth, or as it can be labeled, a 'perspectivist' stance. Roderick does an (as usual excellent) exposition of Nietzsche's. It starts with ideas about one's Continue Reading …
The Future of Education
So the perception is that the college/university system is dying, or at least anachronistic and a new model of learning is needed. Every other TEDx talk is by an entrepreneur who thinks education is a barrier to creative thinking and a waste of productive years. Economic analyses show the ROI of attending college isn't worth it for many graduates. The government funded Continue Reading …
Psychopathy and Empathy
Last year I posted on psychopathy and moral sentiment. This week Cosmos magazine reports that researchers from the Netherlands have determined that psychopaths can 'turn on' empathy on demand. In short, a study was structured that measured psychopath's empathy for others (not explained how) and then the subjects were told that the study was designed to measure empathy. After Continue Reading …
“Worst Attack on Jewish Life Since the Holocaust”
These are the words of the Conference of European Rabbis as reported by Spiegel Online in this article. Exceptionally inflammatory words, particularly coming as they do in response to a German court ruling. The Rabbi who issued the statement for the Conference, Pinchas Goldschmidt, is the Chief Rabbi of Moscow. A Rabbi from Munich took a less strident tone: Rabbi Yisroel Continue Reading …
Graphing the History of Philosophy
This is a crazy cool interactive visualization of the relative influence and importance of philosophers. This guy simonraper (that's his handle anyway) did a data pull from Wikipedia determining what philosophers are identified as having influenced other philosophers and used a graphing platform to visually map it. If you are interested in his methodology, go read the Continue Reading …
In Memoriam: Alan Saunders
It was with great sadness this weekend that I heard via Facebook and on the Australian Broadcast Corporation website of the untimely passing of Alan Saunders. Saunders was the host of the ABC Radio National program The Philosopher's Zone, a weekly broadcast covering a broad range of topics, both in philosophy and outside of philosophy in a philosophical manner. I first Continue Reading …
The Good as Simple Idea
At some point during the episode, Dylan and Wes were arguing about Moore and referred to the good as a 'term'. I corrected them that Moore actually calls it a 'concept' as if something hung on that distinction. I guess it is incumbent upon me to explain. First off, Moore never uses the word "concept" in the chapter - my bad. He uses "idea" and "notion". But my point is Continue Reading …
Humor Case Study 2: Henny Youngman
So Mark took on the comedy stylings of Louis CK in the first case study, someone who establishes a core insight and then plays it out through both content and performance. I'd like to take a look at two other (multi-generational!) comedians who rely on establishing a premise quickly using audience assumptions and then make a joke by twisting either the meaning of words or Continue Reading …
Alain de Botton Wants to Make Ethical Porn
In a press release (cited here in the New Statesman) from his School of Life, Alain de Botton claims he's going to take on our cultural obsession with unethical porn and create some that accords with our moral sensibilities and the good life. This is, of course, hilarious and there have been some requisitely wicked reactions like here (HuffPo has nothing on the Guardian's Continue Reading …
Can the Ethical be Primary?
I was listening again to Mark's interview on Douglas Lain's Diet Soap podcast and was struck by an interesting question posed by Doug. He was talking about how ontology seemed to be the starting point for philosophy (Thales) and asked whether ontology was required for ethics and if Mark knew of any philosophical points of view where the ontological contradicted the ethical. Continue Reading …
Our Texas Profs Revisited
We have on occasion had reason to call attention to our former professors and colleagues from UT. Yesterday I was hit with a blast from the past when I heard R.J. "Jim" Hankinson interviewed on The History of Philosophy podcast. He was, of course, talking about Galen. I'm pretty sure he's the world expert on Galen (he was already 15 years ago I think) and he sounds every bit Continue Reading …
The Karaoke Dilemma: A White Guy Wants to Sing His Favorite Hip-Hop Songs
So I'm the kind of guy that pays attention to the words of songs and a large part of my enjoyment of music is knowing lyrics and singing. So much so that I am practically always on call for Karaoke, particularly when it's Karaoke Apocalypse (greatest thing since the Redskins won the Super Bowl - for the record I own I Want You to Want Me). I can remember all the words to Continue Reading …
Žižek on Foucault, Descartes and Madness
OK, so this isn't the easiest thing to read (after seeing numerous Žižek videos, it looks to me that he writes like he talks like he thinks, which is pretty fluid, making connections between things and not necessarily driving through focused theses...) but a little time spent on it yields some interesting points. For some context, Katie noted in the episode that Discipline Continue Reading …
Rick Roderick on Foucault
Long time listeners and readers know that I'm a fan of Rick Roderick. For those who don't know, he was from Texas, got his degree in philosophy from UT and taught at various places including Duke. He was a down home type who became famous to philosophiles through a couple of lecture series he published through The Teaching Company. (Home also to Mark's crush Robert Solomon) Continue Reading …