Huenemanniac

Getting distracted by ideas

November 2012

  • Potted plants vs. forests

    Neal Gabler, over a year ago, in the NYT: The post-idea world has been a long time coming, and many factors have contributed to it. There is the retreat in universities from the real world, and an encouragement of and reward for the narrowest specialization rather than for daring — for tending potted plants rather… Continue reading

  • True or false quiz

    Once upon a time, in an otherwise empty universe, there were two notebooks, a fox, and a little prince. The fox clawed at some mud with its paws (oh yeah – there was some mud, too) and filled the first notebook with muddy paw prints. The little prince thought up many fine jokes and wrote… Continue reading

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  • More on idealism

    (No, not “moron idealism,” though that may be more apt.) I am growing increasingly sure that idealism is true. Not “Irish idealism”, which is the view that only perceptions exist, but “Graeco-germanic idealism”, which is the view that the things that ultimately exist are ideal: ideas, forms, essences, concepts. My guiding thought is this: the… Continue reading

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