Vivek Chibber's defense of materialism
[This is a review published at H-Socialisms.] Vivek Chibber. The Class Matrix: Social Theory after the Cultural Turn. Harvard University...
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- Jun 6, 2021
- 8 min
Closed borders and democratic theory
You may have noticed that the question of immigration is on people’s minds lately (as it has been, almost without interruption, since the...
- May 25, 2021
- 12 min
Critiques of Richard Rorty (and postmodernism)
[Here are notes I took many years ago while reading Richard Rorty’s famous book Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. As you’ll see from...
- Mar 4, 2021
- 9 min
Personal reflections on anarchism
Anarchism (anti-authoritarianism, love of freedom) is an essential thing, an essential guide for our thinking and action, but I have to...
- Sep 13, 2020
- 6 min
On how to live
When I was younger, I used to wonder: should I care what people think of me? I saw arguments on both sides of the question. And I still...
- Sep 8, 2020
- 21 min
"Revolution in the Twenty-First Century: A Reconsideration of Marxism"
[An article from several months ago.] In the age of COVID-19, it’s even more obvious than it’s been for at least a couple of decades that...
- Sep 4, 2020
- 2 min
I was feeling rather metaphysical last night
David Graeber died. At 59. Tomorrow, you or I might die. At any moment. Meanwhile, we pretend life has meaning. Eventually, we will die....
- Aug 31, 2020
- 10 min
On Wittgenstein and Quine
Wittgenstein is an odd case. I've always had the impression that his early work, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, is genius—and not...
- Aug 30, 2020
- 37 min
Critical remarks on academia and philosophy
I was recently skimming old notes of mine and came across the following thoughts from a two-volume book on "humanism" I wanted to write...
- Aug 29, 2020
- 3 min
"Government in the Future"
[From 2008.] Reading Chomsky’s pamphlet Government in the Future, which sets out to answer the question “What is the role of the state in...
- Aug 29, 2020
- 19 min
Thoughts on the analytic/synthetic distinction
Here's a paper I wrote long ago in which I tried to clarify some issues around the philosophical distinction between analytic and...
- Aug 28, 2020
- 17 min
A critique and defense of Plato’s “just state”
In case anyone out there has an interest in Plato, here's a paper from my student days in which I did the shamelessly anachronistic and...
- Aug 27, 2020
- 21 min
The remarkable perversity of idealism
Many years ago, when I was a simple boy who thought he ought to know a lot about Hegel, I took masses of notes on his philosophy. Below...
- Aug 26, 2020
- 16 min
Methodological individualism vs. holism
If you're like me and are dumb enough to take an interest in abstruse debates among social scientists, you may have heard of the "debate"...
- Aug 26, 2020
- 6 min
"A refutation of Kantian and Benthamite ethics"
Here's a paper from my undergraduate days, which you might find mildly interesting in its outline (and critique) of both Kantian and...
- Aug 24, 2020
- 25 min
Why I am not a Leninist (nor an anarchist)
Years later, I still reproach myself for self-publishing my book on cooperatives, because that ensured it would have a limited...
- Aug 22, 2020
- 23 min
The definition of knowledge
Philosophers have a tendency to treat questions that revolve around the meaning of a particular concept as if they are more substantive...
- Aug 17, 2020
- 7 min
Fragments on Marxism and anarchism
April 2010.— One of the advantages of Marx’s equation of progress with the expansion of productive capacity is that it provides a clear...
- Aug 16, 2020
- 4 min
A short critique of Albert Camus
Journal entry from 2007.— Reading The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays (by Camus). Impressive book. Tries to answer the question I was...
- Aug 11, 2020
- 59 min
The relativity of values
Back in my twenties I had an intellectual and creative energy I don't have anymore. I was consumed by philosophy, jumping from topic to...