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Social Epistemology: 5 Questions

Coming very soon. Alvin GoldmanCristina BicchieriDavid BloorDuncan PritchardEPISTEMEEpistemologyErik OlssonFrederick SchmittHans van DitmarschHelen E. Longinojennifer lackeyLorraine CodeMartin KuschMiranda FrickerPhilip KitcherPhilip PetitPhilosophyRichard BradleySanford Goldbergsocial epistemologySocial Epistemology: 5 QuestionsSteve FullerVincent F. Hendricks

Walker Percy: A Documentary Film

At last Win Riley’s superb one hour documentary is now available for viewing at your convenience and at a reasonable price. Sign up is free and the proceeds go directly to Win — enabling him to make more great content. Tip: best to use Chrome as your browser. If you have any queries check out the…

Probability is the Very Guide of Life

Bishop Butler’s quote “Probability is the Very Guide of Life” (Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature (Charlottesville: Ibis, n.d.), is one that I invoke from time to time in the most unlikeliest of contexts. (The other Butler quote I invoke from time to time in “identity…

Lost in the Cosmos

Here is astrophysicist Adam Frank’s insightful look at Walker Percy’s wonderful book. I don’t share Frank’s nor Lawler’s nor Percy’s optimism but I’m trying very hard. Also check out Peter Lawler’s take on LITC. There is one book that begins to answer these questions and I’m happy to pass it on. Walker Percy’s “Lost In…

David Wiggins, philosophers’ philosopher

I chanced upon this old review of Essays for David Wiggins: Identity, Truth and Value and was pleased to find that others are aware what a treasure this man is, not only in terms of his philosophical writings, but as a person. Speaking of the former, one of my favorite reads of all time is his Sameness and…

Bar room existentialism

Once, in a small-town bar, Percy observed this: “You sit here and listen, and it doesn’t take long to realize that a lot of the ‘existentialism’ of the intellectual is close to the heart of the person next to you, having a beer after a day in a shrimp boat, or working on a farm,…

Walker Percy Documentary

Several people have asked me what (for the novice) is the best way in to Percy — well, fortunately a terrific documentary is available made by documentarist Win Riley. The film’s homepage is here — if you missed the PBS broadcasts the film is available on DVD. Having viewed the film several times and discussed…

Symbol as Hermeneutic in Existentialism

A pre-novelist Walker Percy. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Jun., 1956), pp. 522-530. A POSSIBLE BRIDGE FROM EMPIRICISM If it is true that both Anglo-American empiricism and European existentialism contain valid insights, then in respect of the failure to make a unifying effort toward giving an account of all realities, the former…