Much of Noam Chomsky’s revolution in linguistics—including its account of the way we learn languages—is being overturned. Paul Ibbotson and Michael Tomasello in Scientific American Artificial intelligenceDescarteslanguageMichael TomaselloNoam ChomskyPaul IbbotsonPhilosophy of minduniversal grammar
I’m very much looking forward to the reissue of TSO conveniently bundled along with other important MSS heretofore only available as Hoover photocopies. Kudos to Viktor Vanberg for pulling this together and of course to Bruce Caldwell, the series’ general editor. bruce caldwellConnectionismphilosophical psychologyPhilosophy of mindthe sensory orderviktor vanberg
Thirty years earlier the child knew that something was going to happen, and that the something was all he ever wanted or needed to know, and that it only remained for him to wait for it to happen and to settle for nothing less until it did. What was the something? Women? War? Or victory…
The philosopher Alicja Gescinska visits Roger Scruton at his farm and chats about this, that, and the other or as Alicja puts it “on life, beauty and what we are about”. I didn’t know of Roger’s fall but glad to see him up and about and in good spirits. (Bob Grant in conversation with me always…
I’m pleased to see that Gregor von Rezzori’s Memoirs of an Anti-Semite has been rereleased — well, it was some eight years ago, as I’ve just discovered. Anyway, here is a review piece by Hitch on the reissue from the days when The Atlantic still retained some distinction. anti-SemitismChristopher HitchensGregor von Rezzorimemoirs of an anti-semitephilosophical literature
On the lookout to bulk up my proposed spaghetti marinara I chanced upon New Zealand Greenshell Mussels in my crappy major chain supermarket. Wow! Unlike the miserable looking packs of cheaper vacuum packed mussels from China, these actually looked inviting and cooked up very nicely despite being frozen on the shell. They weren’t sinewy, they had much “melt-in-the-mouth” flesh and…
Here’s a roundup of some recent Oakeshottiana: Rationalism and Traditionalism in Politics. The Correspondence Between Karl R. Popper and Michael Oakeshott — Spartaco Pupo in SCIENZA & POLITICA, vol. XXVIII, no. 54, anno 2016, pp. 121-14 Michael Oakeshott and Hayden White on the practical and the historical past — Jonas Ahlskog in Rethinking History: The Journal of…
Some powerful social commentary from 44 years ago, possibly the greatest psychedelic soul funk song of all time and distressingly, is more salient now than ever before; then check out the Pew Report Parenting in America; and last, but by no means least, Larry Elder’s crisp assessment/diagnostic of the problem: It was the third of September…
As if I needed a reminder . . . eternity
Now that Bayou Maharajah has had an airing at the ultimately inconsequential bricks and mortar “vanity marketing” film festivals (good for the CV but not for the bank account) and other miscellaneous one-off showings, the broader populace can now view this documentary via the usual streaming outlets. It’s such a shame that they all have the…
manwithoutqualities 