Sep 13, 20206 minOn how to liveWhen 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...
Aug 29, 202019 minThoughts on the analytic/synthetic distinctionHere's a paper I wrote long ago in which I tried to clarify some issues around the philosophical distinction between analytic and...
Aug 26, 20206 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 11, 202059 minThe relativity of valuesBack in my twenties I had an intellectual and creative energy I don't have anymore. I was consumed by philosophy, jumping from topic to...
Jul 14, 20166 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...
May 26, 20161 minVarious notes and excerptsOver the years I've taken copious notes on various topics of philosophy. In case anyone is interested, I'll link to several sets of such...
May 19, 201612 minBertrand Russell, and David Hume, on philosophy[Old notes.] Reading The Problems of Philosophy (1912) by Bertrand Russell. I’m inclined to agree with most of it. (In a lot of ways I’m...
Jan 22, 20163 minOn the use and abuse of “perspective” for life[Excerpt from this book.] There are delights and dangers in adopting a broad perspective on oneself and one’s society. Looking at the...
Jan 10, 20165 minThe paradox of free will[From an email.] Jerry Coyne does not impress me [in this talk], although at least he seems less irrational and annoying than Daniel...
Sep 28, 20152 minThoughts on thinkers[Some notes I took a while ago. They may be kind of obvious, but I think it’s interesting to adopt something like Hegel’s perspective on...
Sep 10, 20151 min"The human harvest"From Peter Marin: “Kant called the realm of [human] connection the kingdom of ends. Erich Gutkind’s name for it was the absolute...
Aug 8, 20153 minExcerpts on happinessIt’s a cliché but it’s worth repeating: one cause of modern loneliness is the attitude of treating people as means to an end, namely...
Apr 18, 20153 minIn defense of Socrates(This is the sequel to the blog post "From the Greeks to the Enlightenment." From my book Finding Our Compass.) Nietzsche ridiculed the...