https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/world/europe/france-universities-culture-wars.html
Oh France, look at you, thinking that you are condemning ideas from the US when in fact you are just replicating the culture wars of the US. Ok, not France in general, but… Continue reading…
So I was poking around on the Open Syllabus Explorer site https://opensyllabus.org/ which is pretty cool, I must say. They have about 7.3 million syllabi there, and you can search elements… Continue reading…
https://psyche.co/ideas/rise-up-fellow-complainers-lets-be-vulnerable-together
Kate Norlock is in favor of complaining. She makes a pretty good case that it is a social skill, that it can be done better or worse, and that like any skill it… Continue reading…
Well, some “philosophers say” this. Others say other things. Solitude is really a lot more complicated than this basically religious view. It suggests that if someone struggles with being alone, they aren’t yet… Continue reading…
I’m thinking a lot about death these days. I guess being a philosopher it comes with the territory. Not my own death, particularly, although these days I suspect that that question has crossed anyone’s mind… Continue reading…
Armed protesters in Michigan storm the legislature. All in the name of freedom, no doubt. What a misunderstanding of what freedom is.
This is something we talk about in my classes. I sometimes give… Continue reading…
This is an interview with Jennifer Nash about her excellent book on intersectionality. I’m interested in the ways that concepts are created for specific purposes and then drift, or get appropriated, or get… Continue reading…
When I have taught medieval philosophy in the past, I’ve had to describe the debate between the realists and the nominalists. It’s central to understanding the European Middle Ages. Basically, the dispute is over universals,… Continue reading…
Every time I think about writing about something on Facebook that really matters, I think about how that is even possible to do. Marshall McLuhan was surely at some level correct in saying that the… Continue reading…
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/opinion/america-heimat-germany-politics.html
The columnist in this piece thinks that the English speaking world needs a new word from German: Heimat. This is a term which captures more than geographical place, but a state of belonging…. Continue reading…
From Feb. 5, 2017
What Steve Bannon really wants
When I’m at parties or generally out in the world, and someone finds out that I’m a philosopher, I sometimes get the dreaded question, “So… Continue reading…
From Dec. 21, 2016
Here’s a chunk of text from a contribution I’m making to a volume in African philosophy. This is not just about African philosophy, obviously, but about what it means to be… Continue reading…
From Dec. 19, 2016
Philosophers affect the world, not always in good ways. Apparently the “Kremlin-approved philosopher Alexander Dugin” is the custodian of the “Kremlin-approved nationalist philosophy”. I’ve seen various attempts at national… Continue reading…
From Nov. 21, 2016
This Socrates fellow might have been on to something. Some of the charges at his trial included that “Socrates is a doer of evil, who corrupts the youth; and who does… Continue reading…