Technology is often thought of as a triumph of material realism (the concept that matter and the things made of matter exist in some fundamental ontological sense, independent of the observer). After all, it was the faith that matter has an objective existence governed by knowable rules that paved the way for the triumph of modern science and the technology that utilizes Continue Reading …
David Foster Wallace on Wittgenstein
Slate Magazine recently posted a great article on the recently-departed author and essayist David Foster Wallace, focusing on how Wallace (correctly?) interpreted Wittgenstein's early and late philosophy to cope with his allegedly crushing sense of solipsistic dread. I'm not sure I buy this thesis, but Wallace's suicide implies something was clearly bothering him. Even so, I'd Continue Reading …