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Review of Franco-Marsh Companion

Review essay of A Companion to Michael Oakeshott CONVERSATIONS WITH MICHAEL OAKESHOTT – AN INTERLUDE TO OAKESHOTT SCHOLARSHIP by Suvi Soininen Redescriptions: yearbook of political thought, conceptual history and feminist theory. 2012/2013, vol. 16, pp. 172-187 (in downloadable pdf) a companion to michael oakeshottaestheticsBritish IdealismConservatismConversationEpistemologyexperience and its modesHayekhistory of political thoughtLeslie MarshLiberalismMichael Oakeshotton human conductPaul Francophilosophical jurisprudencePhilosophy of…

Why were the early Christians persecuted?

I This well-worn question needs to be re-analyzed into the following three subsidiary questions. First, for what reasons did the government (i.e. the organs of state, broadly speaking, the emperor, the senate, officials, and provincial governors) persecute? Secondly, for what reasons did ordinary pagans (i.e. the general populace) demand persecution? Thirdly, we need to examine…

Taking the Super out of the Supernatural

Watching Bryan Magee and Tony Quinton discussing Spinoza (and Leibniz) reminded me of a piece I did several years ago that was very pantheistic in its conclusion. Here is the first half or so. There’s something horribly plausible about Ralph’s arguments, religion arising out of man’s unique awareness of his own mortality. . . . In…

Constructing Religion without The Social: Durkheim, Latour, and Extended Cognition

Here is the intro to Matthew’s article: Where does thinking happen? The obvious and most common answer is “somewhere inside the head.” After all, this is where the brain is safely housed behind seven millimeters of protective armor. However, despite the instinctive appeal of this response, some theoretical camps have been willing to flirt with…

Empathy and the Extended Mind

Here is the intro to Joel’s article: Often, I tell a joke and the people around me laugh. (Sometimes this laughter even appears to be sincere.) I usually take this reaction to mean that they find my comment amusing. I like to smile at babies whenever possible and relish the bright-eyed facial animation and gestures…

Intuition Pumping: Dennett Interview

3:AM Magazine: Dennett plugging his latest. See also Real People: Personal Identity without Thought Experiments. CognitionCognitive neuroscienceconsciousnessDaniel DennettIntuition pumpnaturalismphilosophical psychologyPhilosophyPhilosophy of mindReligionsciencethought experiments

Persons and the Extended-Mind Thesis

An extract from Lynne Rudder Baker’s paper: Cognitive scientists have become increasingly enamored of the idea of extended minds. The extended-mind thesis (EM) is the claim that mentality need not be situated just in the brain or even within the boundaries of the skin. EM is the modal claim that it is possible that the…