Obit (of sorts) in LRB but well worth reading his IEP entry. Update: here is the NYT obit. I hate relativism. I hate relativism more than I hate anything else, excepting, maybe, fiberglass powerboats… surely, surely, no one but a relativist would drive a fiberglass powerboat. Cognitive sciencefunctionalismJerry FodorPhilosophy of mindrepresentationalism
A decent documentary on Sly is long overdue: next year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Dance to the Music, a landmark album for acid funk/soul. This documentary sounds promising but the distribution seems to be the standard damn snag: Michael should give mediAm a go (nothing to lose). Anyway, great to see that…
Still on Percy, check out Brian Smith’s neat little article. Do also check out Brian’s recent book as well which I hope to review shortly. brian a. smithexistentialismlove in the ruinsPolitical philosophyWalker Percy
We are aware that the effect is achieved by applying the notions of water and scars to lightning, the most unwaterlike or unscarlike thing imaginable. But are these metaphors merely pleasing or shocking or do they discover?—discover an aspect of the thing which had gone unformulated before? Clouds are called variously bars, rafters, prisms, mealy,…
Freely available paper in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Humans routinely experience pleasure in response to higher order stimuli that confer no clear evolutionary advantage. Aesthetic responses through pursuit of and engagement with the arts activates the same reward network in the brain that responds to the basic, sensory pleasures associated with food, sex and drugs…
One of the contributors to the forthcoming Walker Percy, Philosopher (Palgrave) volume (“Percy on the Allure of Violence and Destruction”) has himself a new book out on Percy entitled Walker Percy and the Politics of the Wayfarer. brian a. smithexistentialismPhilosophy of LanguagePolitical philosophyWalker Percy
The reissue of TSO edited by Viktor Vanberg (originally Chicago University Press) is about to, for some reason, also be published by Routledge. Here is an excerpt from Viktor’s excellent introduction: Among F. A. Hayek’s numerous publications, The Sensory Order (hereafter TSO) is undoubtedly the most unusual. After all, from someone known as an economist…
Matt Ridley in The Journal of Private Enterprise, 32(3): 1-7. Adam SmithcapitalismilliberalismLiberalismmatt ridleyregressive leftSpontaneous orderVernon Smith
Anti-semitism as a term just doesn’t cut it any longer — the term should be more specific — Jew hatred. Here from a few years back Michael Ezra argues in The Philosopher’s Magazine that Karl Marx’s anti-Semitism is clear and unambiguous. anti-SemitismJew hatredKarl MarxMarxismMichael Ezraregressive left
Born on this day. Here’s an assessment of Wiener’s legacy from a few years back. Having read most of the notable work on “epistemic ignorance” (yes, there really is a specialized small literature) there is one prize that still alludes me and that is Wiener’s “The Theory of Ignorance” (1906), a philosophical demonstration of the…
manwithoutqualities 