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    Wright's Writing

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    The truth about gender
    • Jul 9, 2021
    • 9 min

    The truth about gender

    Some months ago I saw Richard Dawkins recommend on Twitter a new book called The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and...
    On humans' language faculty
    • Jun 15, 2021
    • 11 min

    On humans' language faculty

    You may have heard of the “talking gorilla” Koko. I remember as a child reading about this fascinating creature that had been trained to...
    Reflecting on life at 40
    • Jun 6, 2021
    • 20 min

    Reflecting on life at 40

    …They accuse me -- Me -- the present writer of The present poem -- of -- I know not what -- A tendency to under-rate and scoff At human...
    The miraculous brain
    • May 26, 2021
    • 6 min

    The miraculous brain

    [Old notes.] I’m reading Stanislas Dehaene’s Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts (2014). Good book,...
    Journal-notes on cognitive science
    • Sep 6, 2020
    • 19 min

    Journal-notes on cognitive science

    [From 2015.] Reading a bunch of articles on cognitive development. A fascinating field. Interesting: Human infants who receive little...
    Biology and destiny
    • Sep 1, 2020
    • 5 min

    Biology and destiny

    [Notes from ten years ago.] I’m amazed at the extent of our culture’s cult of secrecy in matters of the body. Even in this age, people...
    Fragments on the phenomenology of sexual attraction
    • Aug 12, 2020
    • 4 min

    Fragments on the phenomenology of sexual attraction

    [From 2010.] The psychology of sex is fascinating. For example, why are women sometimes attracted to “innocent” young men, “pure,”...
    The heartbreak of staggering self-consciousness
    • Jul 30, 2020
    • 16 min

    The heartbreak of staggering self-consciousness

    Today I came across a copy of Dave Eggers' Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and was reminded of myself in my twenties, when I was...
    A plea for honesty in discussions of sex and gender
    • Jul 19, 2019
    • 7 min

    A plea for honesty in discussions of sex and gender

    A recent article of mine, called "Political Correctness Is Getting Out of Hand," elicited some angry emails. Not from people who...
    The meaning of life
    • Dec 27, 2018
    • 3 min

    The meaning of life

    [Excerpts from this book. See also this blog post, "Excerpts on happiness."] The meaning of life?— Life is not totally “meaningless.”...
    Old notes on etymology
    • Jul 30, 2018
    • 4 min

    Old notes on etymology

    The profundity of language.— You can gain great insight into the human condition, into the nature of the mind, by studying the evolution...
    Marxism and Meadism
    • Jul 22, 2018
    • 2 min

    Marxism and Meadism

    August, 2007.— Here’s one of the many parallels between Marxism and 'Meadism' [i.e., George Herbert Mead's system of thought]: “Human...
    Existentialist thoughts on David Foster Wallace
    • May 26, 2018
    • 3 min

    Existentialist thoughts on David Foster Wallace

    [From 2008. Copied here, somewhat irrelevantly, in recognition of the recent suicides that have been in the news.] Read an article in...
    D. W. Winnicott on playing
    • May 20, 2018
    • 10 min

    D. W. Winnicott on playing

    Here are some old disjointed notes on a classic book by the psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott. I happen to be skeptical of psychoanalysis,...
    Random thoughts on the self
    • May 16, 2018
    • 3 min

    Random thoughts on the self

    Phenomenological explorations of consciousness and the self have always fascinated me, and over the years I've taken reams of notes on...
    Excerpts on moral pathologies
    • Mar 25, 2018
    • 7 min

    Excerpts on moral pathologies

    [From Notes of an Underground Humanist.] How is mass inhumanity possible?— When I ask myself how it’s possible that so many white...
    "Awakenings," and the power of music
    • Jul 14, 2016
    • 6 min

    "Awakenings," and the power of music

    [From 2008.] Reading Oliver Sacks’s Awakenings, which is about his experiences with post-encephalitic, Parkinsonian patients. It’s a good...
    The utility of "God"
    • Jun 23, 2016
    • 2 min

    The utility of "God"

    I attended my first Episcopalian service last night [in April 2010]. It was Maundy Thursday, so we did the whole foot-washing thing and...
    Two interpretations of love
    • Jan 4, 2016
    • 6 min

    Two interpretations of love

    Max Scheler’s Ressentiment (1912), while dated and silly in some respects, is worth reading. Scheler is a semi-Nietzsche in his...
    Fragments of humanism
    • Sep 21, 2015
    • 3 min

    Fragments of humanism

    L’enfer, c’est les autres?— Contrary to what Sartre pessimistically thought, if hell exists, it is not other people. It is the absence of...
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    Wright's Writing

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