June 2014 – Huenemanniac

June 25, 2014

Thoughts on a quote from Burton Dreben

Burton Dreben (1927-1999) was a Harvard professor whose influence upon academic philosophers has been great, despite a paucity of publications. Indeed, his influence has been so strong that some people refer to his students as being “Drebenized”, or molded in the form of the master. His main area of interest was logic, and the thought… Continue reading

Items of the academy / learning, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff

June 12, 2014

In defense of armchairs

Generally, in any conflict between long-held, seemingly obvious beliefs and new research challenging those beliefs, defenders of the old beliefs will find themselves charged with sitting in armchairs. It never is a rocking chair, park bench, hammock, or divan. It is an armchair, the sort of chair one finds in venerable, wood-paneled clubs where stodgy… Continue reading

3QD essays, Items of the academy / learning, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff

June 2, 2014

Quotes from Bréhier’s Plotinus

Émile Bréhier, The Philosophy of Plotinus, translated by Joseph Thomas (UChicago, 1958) The history of philosophy does not reveal to us ideas existing in themselves, but only the men who think. Its method, like every historical method, is nominalistic. Ideas do not, strictly speaking, exist for it. It is only concrete and active thoughts that… Continue reading

Books, Historical episodes