Travelogue from "down under"
Some bloggers like to post accounts of their world travels. So—why not?—I'll do the same. Here are some journal entries from almost...
Wright's Writing
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- 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...
- 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 25, 2020
- 9 min
Thou shalt not worship intellectuals
When I read old books or articles that are totally forgotten despite being brilliant, it saddens me. Siblings of Donald Trump publish...
- 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 23, 2020
- 25 min
The radical dimensions of mass consciousness, part 2
Here's the sequel to this post, from the last chapter of my Ph.D. thesis. It's just an excerpt. The main point of it is to argue against...
- Aug 23, 2020
- 45 min
The radical dimensions of mass consciousness, part 1
I'm kind of a "vulgar Marxist." In this respect, I suppose I'm a lot like people in the American ruling class, except that their values...
- 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 21, 2020
- 9 min
I wish stupidity were less common
This is going to be a whiny, self-pitying post. Just to warn you. The question is sometimes asked, "Why are stupid people frequently so...
- Aug 21, 2020
- 53 min
Homeless men in the Great Depression
Here's another over-long blog post. It's a chapter from my dissertation, on homeless men during the Great Depression. I'm not sure it's...
- 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 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,”...