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Walker Percy Wednesday 91

Like many rich women, she loved a bargain. ***** Right: you said I will not put up with a life which is not life or death. I don’t have to and I won’t. ***** Is there another way? People either believe everything or they believe nothing. People like the Christians or Californians believe anything, everything.…

Identity, Individuation and Substance

After a long break from writing on metaphysics the wonderful David Wiggins has a freely available paper published in the European Journal of Philosophy. Sameness and Substance remains one of the most satisfying  (and most difficult) reads I’ve ever experienced. Forty four years ago I published a short monograph called Identity and Spatio-Temporal Continuity, henceforth ISTC…

The Radical Individualism of David Bowie

And my brother’s back at home with his Beatles and his Stones We never got it off on that revolution stuff What a drag, too many snags Now I’ve drunk a lot of wine and I’m feeling fine Got to race some cat to bed Oh is that concrete all around Or is it in…

Anti‐Semite and Jew

Sartre’s Anti‐Semite and Jew is still well worth a read. Here is a feely downloadable reissue with a new preface by Michael Walzer. anti-SemitismexistentialismJean-Paul SartreMarxismmichael walzer

Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016

Available for free download here. The special theme of the conference: How can the synthetic study of living systems contribute to societies: scientifically, technically, and culturally? The goal of the conference theme is to better understand societies with the purpose of using this understanding for a more efficient management and development of social systems. AutopoiesisCarlos GershensonCollective…

Intellectual Yet Idiot

Nassim Nicholas Taleb gives the Platonic rationalist “elites” a mega bitch slap (Original source here). Supplemented by the recent lunacy as per below, I suspect that though philosophers (rightly so) got their knickers in a twist a couple of years ago when deGrasse Tyson slammed the value of philosophy, they’d be well on board with this…

The Myths and Legends of King Arthur

Supposedly being released today. I still adore the original album, the apotheosis of what was often disparagingly referred to as “progrock”. Aside from his obvious virtuosity, Rick could never be accused of having his head up his own arse. Rick saw (at the time) the excesses of the prevailing ’70s music scene; he doesn’t play the celebrity virtue-signaling…

Freak Out!

Released 50 years ago. Frank would roll in his grave knowing that the Brain Police are their most powerful right now. In the ’80s they were primarily daft pearl-clutching Washington Wives (abetted by the so-called “Moral Majority”/ in the UK we had Mary Whitehouse). But thanks to Frank we had some push back because these pearl-clutchers weren’t the sharpest pencils in…

Walker Percy Wednesday 90

The only time I knew what to do was when something bad happened to somebody. Disaster gave me leave to act. Between times I didn’t know what to do. Now I know. ***** How did it happen that now for the first time in his life he could see everything so clearly? Something had given…

Meaningful Diversity

Is a group a bland puree unless it includes a “critical mass” of the targeted minorities? Peter Minowitz’ newly published and freely available paper in Perspectives on Political Science. . . . as if colorful skin guarantees colorful thinking and white skin precludes it . . . Identity politics and affirmative action may well have met a…