kant | Wright's Writing

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...

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...

"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...

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...

"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...

Various notes and excerpts

Over 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...

Bertrand 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...

On 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...

The 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...

Thoughts 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...

"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...

Excerpts on happiness

It’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...

In 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...