-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Lee on How Wrong We Are jamienauthor on How Wrong We Are cindy knoke on Fools Reproach leewatkins on Notes on Gregory Corso’s “Vari… leewatkins on Notes on Gregory Corso’s “Vari… Archives
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- November 2021
- October 2021
- July 2021
- May 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- August 2014
- February 2014
- February 2013
- March 2012
- July 2011
Categories
Meta
Category Archives: Philosophy
Identifying Things
Identification, says Korzybski, is a blunt tool. Language is a box full of tools, all imperfect, none quite fit for purpose, their functioning performative and never exactly descriptive. Meaning: anything we can say about the world is never quite how … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
Tagged General Semantics, Korzybski, language, philosophy, William S Burroughs
2 Comments
Toynbee and the Enlightenment
Arnold J Toynbee has some bad news in Volume VI of his A Study of History: Western civilisation is showing all the signs of being in its final decline. Civilisations decline when they fail to respond to challenges they face. … Continue reading
Posted in books, History, Philosophy, Toynbee
Tagged Arnold J Toynbee, books, Christianity, Enlightenment, History, Kant, philosophy
14 Comments
Hegel: Knowledge, Desire, and Freedom
The first part of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, concerning “consciousness,” shows us how knowledge of objects is knowledge only of oneself. In other words, it describes how we reach the initial premise of “transcendental idealism” – a philosophy created by … Continue reading
Posted in Hegel
Tagged books, Fichte, Kant, Phenomenology, philosophy, stoicism, transcendental idealism
2 Comments
Herder’s First Principle
The life of rational individuals is chaotic as a madhouse. Herder writes: “Whoever goes into a madhouse finds all the fools raving in a different way, each in his world; thus do we all rave, very rationally, each according to … Continue reading
Charles Taylor: Herder and Hegel
In the first chapter of Charles Taylor’s 1975 book Hegel, he sets the scene. He’s describing the kinds of ideas that were floating around in Hegel’s time, that defined the problems Hegel would come to tackle when he began his … Continue reading
Hegel, Theodicy and Contradiction
This is a paper I presented at the “Hegel’s Conception of Contradiction: Logic, Life and History” conference in Leuven on 17th May 2013. In retrospect, it seems strange to talk about theodicy without also discussing God and the problem of … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
Tagged contradiction, Hegel, John W Burbidge, Leuven, politics, Raymond Geuss, theodicy
Leave a comment
First Encounters: Miller, Dostoevsky, Deleuze and Guattari
“Such a day it may be when first you encounter Dostoevsky. You remember the smell of the tablecloth on which the book rests; you look at the clock and it is only five minutes from eternity; you count the objects … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Philosophy
Tagged Black Spring, books, Deleuze, Dostoevsky, Guattari, Henry Miller
3 Comments
Henry Miller and Being in the Moment
(Some notes on the text and related thoughts as I read Indrek Männiste’s Henry Miller: The Inhuman Artist Chapter 3. Where I write about Zen I’m recalling – however imperfectly – something from Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Philosophy, Writing
Tagged books, Heidegger, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, Zen
Leave a comment
Some notes as I work through Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Grammar
(Quotations are from Philosophical Grammar by Ludwig Wittgenstein, translated by Anthony Kenny, published 1974 by Blackwell. I’m mostly looking at Part 1 Chapter 1 section 2, found on pages 39-40 of this edition.) “We regard understanding as the essential thing, … Continue reading
More Notes on Michael Hardt
In Gilles Deleuze: An Apprenticeship in Philosophy, Michael Hardt gives us four “methodological principles” for reading the work of Gilles Deleuze. 1. “Recognise the object and the terms of the primary antagonism.” Every philosophical project is aimed at someone, or … Continue reading