Apart from his contributions to political philosophy, Oakeshott is perhaps best known for his contributions to the philosophy of history. Over the course of fifty years, from the important chapter on historical experience in Experience and Its Modes to the three essays on history in On History, Oakeshott applied himself to investigating the nature and…
Just published. david McIlwainEnlightenmentLeo StraussMichael OakeshottPolitical philosophyrenaissance
Obituary in The Guardian. Dale was pivotal in the development of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. Dick DaleguitarMisirlousurf music
Born on this day. Compare this man with the vulgar regressive shysters and shit-puppet morons who populate politics these days. Below is The Economist‘s deliciously scathing obituary. A POLYMATH in a profession of intellectual pygmies; a free thinker in a world of crushing orthodoxies; and a cheerful imbiber in a country that has turned, once again,…
The Harris-Kahneman chat is here. Below is my entry for Kahneman in Real World Decision Making: An Encyclopedia of Behavioral Economics. Amos TverskyBehavioral economicsCognitive scienceconsciousnessDaniel KahnemanPsychologysam harris
Isocracy: The Institutions of Equality — Education in the Marketplace: An Intellectual History of Pro-Market Libertarian Visions for Education in Twentieth Century America classical liberalismEducationequalityIsocracyKevin Currie-KnightLibertarianismNicolò Bellanca
In “Philosophy and Its Moods: Oakeshott on the Practice of Philosophy,” Kenneth McIntyre continues the discussion of Oakeshott’s conception of philosophy begun by Boucher but takes a somewhat different view. Though he admits that Oakeshott’s conception of philosophy as a fundamentally skeptical activity devoted to relentless interrogation of the conditions of human understanding remains unchanged…
Born on this day. Nobbs’ novels were the basis of the TV series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, a scathing precursor to Ricky Gervais’ The Office. Below is a clip of what I’d term a Cathy Newman (Colin Pillock) moment. david nobbshumourreginald perrinricky gervaissatirethe office
My contribution to the C+T symposium on Roger Scruton’s Conservatism. antifragileConservatismidentityidentity politicsPolitical philosophyRoger ScrutonToleration
This in Synthese freely available here. We introduce the Ant Colony Test (ACT) as a rigorous reverse test for consciousness. We show that social insect colonies, though disaggregated collectives, fulfill many of the prerequisites for conscious awareness met by humans and honey bee workers. However only a small fraction of neurons in the brain might be…
manwithoutqualities 