Since no one has yet forked over their X-mas cash to us in response to my offer to craft your personal philosophy, I'm writing one for a semi-randomly chosen needy celebrity, selected because of her hotness and because she's not quite so famous that she wouldn't potentially have a Google alert out on herself: Gigi Edgly, shown here in freaky Farscape make-up, in which she Continue Reading …
Special Offer: Your Own Personal Philosophy
Are you confused? Directionless? Tired of trying to figure it all out? Does the thought of slogging through the history of philosophy trying to figure out what does and doesn't make sense to you depress and/or intimidate you? Well, now there's an answer. For a $40 donation to the Partially Examined Life podcast and blog, I will write you a personalized personal philosophy, Continue Reading …
Martial Arts Without the Mysticism
A trivial generalization about modern Western philosophy is that it splits between the more scientific "analytic" and more humanistic "continental" traditions.* A crass -- but more true than false -- characterization of these two traditions is that the analytic tradition attempts to solve problems, and the continental traditions...um...don't. Similarly, one might roughly divide Continue Reading …
Simon Blackburn vs Sam Harris: Can Science Tell us Right from Wrong?
In a debate with Patricia Churchland, Peter Singer, Sam Harris, and Lawrence Krauss, Simon Blackburn explains why Harris simply has it wrong on whether science can provide substantive guidance on morality: https://youtu.be/qtH3Q54T-M8 There is no doubt, he notes, that "science can inform our values" (and I would add that this goes trivially for many other types of Continue Reading …
John Searle’s Course Audio Available Online
OpenCulture.com has posted links to three complete, free courses from the great philosophy of mind and language professor John Searle from UC-Berkeley. You may remember Searle from the Chinese Room argument as discussed in our philosophy of mind episode. These courses are on mind, language, and "philosophy of society," which I will surely be checking out, as I had no idea he Continue Reading …
The Philosophy of Jumping Around and Yelling
We've some great discussion and sharing of experiences going here, with reasonable people (including the author of the article I linked to... someone's got a Google alert out for his own name, I'm thinking. :) ) talking about the aesthetic approach to physical competitiveness and other cool things. But what does master YouTube think? Watch on youtube. In this short Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Seven
Start at the beginning. In the Seventh Sitting of Tripe, it's made clear that as soon as the goal of the book's being an organic growth-in-itself is stated, it dissolves, following the pattern of self-transcendence that the book has set up. If the purpose of an endeavor is to evade all purposes, then to succeed, the book must transcend its own goal of transcendence and Continue Reading …
Ned Block Reviews Damasio’s Latest
Ned Block -- whose views on consciousness and the mind-body problem are, like those of David Chalmers, close to my own (and far from those of Daniel C. Dennett) -- is not impressed with Antonio Damasio's new book Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain.Damasio makes the same sorts of desperate moves typical of those determined to jerry-rig a scientific solution to Continue Reading …
Kierkegaard, Docudramatized
Kierkegaard's stern Christian vision originated with a strict, almost traumatic, upbringing. His defense of individualism and radical subjectivity would not likely have developed without it. But it's hard for the modern reader to get past Kierkegaard's freakish, introverted persona. A more sympathetic view of K. might be found in the 1984 BBC television series Sea of Faith, Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Six
Start at the beginning. We are now up to the sixth and sixth and a half sittings. Today's excerpt puts the connection between tripe (the non-humor forming the bulk of this book) and self-consciousness in terms of our attitudes towards free will: The form and shape of the supposedly humorous is predictable, though the content is not. Unfortunately, form is part of content, Continue Reading …
Louis CK on the story of Abraham
If you wanted some more detail on the story of Abraham as discussed by Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling, here's a version by comedian Louis CK (yes, with swearing): Watch on youtube. This presentation shows the challenge Kierkegaard or any other Judeo-Christian apologist faces in defending a belief system that would make this story a central, celebrated piece of its Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Four
By the "fourth sitting" of Tripe, the references to previous bits come quickly and constantly enough that it's really not advisable to start at this point, but instead, like an ordinary book reader, start at the beginning. New topics covered in this section include goat suet, the supposedly fictional holiday of San Juan de la Cruz Day (which I have just now discovered is Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Three
Start at the beginning. In the "third sitting" of Tripe, Mr. Wolf seems to provide us with a self-deprecating back-handed apologetic of the sort that makes me tired but dresses this up as a rejection of quality standards a la the Taoist. In other words, our esteemed author apologizes for his bad writing with the excuse that "good" vs. "bad" as a distinction is just a trap Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part Two
Dear kind and patient readers, The burden of stewardship is great, and though it is with hesitation that I here link to the "Second Sitting" of Cliffson Wolf's masterwork Tripe, given that interested parties could have easily clicked through from the first chapter to this document, it is incumbent upon me through the terms of Wolf's will (in which he left me some snacks, Continue Reading …
Fun with Kierkegaard – YouTube edition
During the podcast on Kierkegaard, Daniel made reference to a YouTube video featuring K. in a mock election ad. There were a couple of these that are quite amusing. Linkage for your reference: Another one after the bump... Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part One
In the spirit of Kierkegaard, I will now reveal that I am the beneficiary of one of the great thinkers of our time, Cliffson Wolf, who entrusted me upon his death to publish and publicize his great work of philosophical, autobiographical, anarchist, dadaist, anti-neo-Hegelianism: Tripe. Marvel if you will upon this mind-bending work of unadulterated genius. (Later edit: I Continue Reading …
Tripe, Part One
In the spirit of Kierkegaard, I will now reveal that I am the beneficiary of one of the great thinkers of our time, Cliffson Wolf, who entrusted me upon his death to publish and publicize his great work of philosophical, autobiographical, anarchist, dadaist, anti-neo-Hegelianism: Tripe. Marvel if you will upon this mind-bending work of unadulterated genius. (Later edit: I have Continue Reading …
Kierkegaard and Cinema
You don’t have to be a self-absorbed mope to like Kierkegaard, but it can't hurt. Below is a stereotypically morose clip from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957), which echoes themes presented in The Sickness Unto Death: Watch on youtube. The protagonist, Antonius Block, is a medieval knight suffering from what Kierkegaard might classify as conscious despair of Continue Reading …
What is Despair, Anyway?
[Editor's note: If you've listened to the Kierkegaard episode, then you've heard plenty of felicitous exposition and argumentation by Mr. Daniel Horne, whom we've consequently invited to post some follow-up thoughts and resources over the next weeks: Yes, we know Kierkegaard thought of despair as sin, but is despair “a” sin? Is it “sin” writ large? Despair is prohibited by Continue Reading …
World Philosophy Day
Apparently today (or yesterday, or Nov 21-23, depending on which thing you read) is World Philosophy Day, according to the United Nations, and you didn't even get me a present! (That's OK, I didn't get you anything. Here's a smidgen of history about this most holy of days Here's an article about the big event, which was scheduled to take place in Iran, but enough people Continue Reading …