The deliciously scathing Susan Haack on the “vanity of cleverness“ At dinner the night before I was to give a talk in her department, a young professor solemnly told me that there’s no place for humor in serious philosophy. The serious philosopher must indeed work in earnest–but not in grim earnest. Charles Sanders Peircehumourphilosophical humorPhilosophysusan haack
Obituary and NYT profile William Christenberry’s work is a poetic evocation of a haunted countryside. . . . [that it] really says it all, because it [his work] deals not only with the Southern landscape of beauty and wonderment, but also the side of it that is haunted with memory and sadness. AlabamapaintingphotographyWalker PercyWilliam Christenberry
“Thus, these word signs have been evacuated, deprived of meaning something real. Real persons. Not so with Jews.” ***** “Since the Jews were the original chosen people of God, a tribe of people who are still here, they are a sign of God’s presence which cannot be evacuated. Try to find a hole in that…
H/T to Steve Horwitz who has provided the introduction to FEE’s newly released ebook of Kirzner lectures/essays from various FEE events and publications. For Kirzner and the Austrians, however, the assumption of perfect knowledge heads economists off on a trail that is an intellectual dead-end. The real world of the market is one in which knowledge…
Robert Wright in The New York Times on the late great William Hamilton “I’m also quite open to the view that there is some kind of ultimate good which is of a religious nature — that we just have to look beyond what the evolutionary theory tells us and accept promptings of what ultimate good is, coming…
The always astute and nuanced John McWhorter’s take on Vance’s Hillbilly Elergy which I’m now ready to dive into having recently spend some time (albeit briefly) in Appalachian country. Hillbilly Elegy throws down a gauntlet to those who shape opinion on inequality and race in this country. Any reader must ask, “If Vance makes sense…
I’ve been on a road trip for a month or so and as such have had the opportunity to randomly sample a cross section of food in several states/regions/price ranges/types of eatery and so on. After some sixty meals the dishes that stick out are as follows: A bowl of chili ($5.50) in Butte, MT…
Here’s an interview with Vernon Smith concerning the relationship of science to religion. I had no idea Vernon felt this way until I read his Discovery – A Memoir (which he so kindly sent me a few years back), so this interview is of no surprise. Despite Vernon’s genuine achievements the fashionably atheist philosopher would “cock a snook” at…
The Nola Players have just released their big band Christmas CD. I’m very much looking forward to hearing it in full and replenishing my Christmas selection with a bunch of stuff en route to me from the Louisiana Music Factory. In the meantime I’ve been playing a few other Christmas CDs because they work very well…
The always challenging and informative Deirdre McCloskey one of the few taking on the tired, false and persistent inequality memes. Of course what the regressive left have done (and incoherently so) is to conflate patterns of inequality (access) with patterns of inequity (outcome). Worldwide even the income gap between rich and poor has radical [sic] declined. If you…
manwithoutqualities 