Author Archives: Huenemann

About Huenemann

Curious about the ways humans use their minds and hearts to distract themselves from the meaninglessness of life.

What we know when we know particulars

Posted on May 7, 2019

Some reflections on the early sections of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: If we try to think about what is most obvious in our experience, and what the most basic elements of knowledge are, we turn to sense perception. For it … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical episodes, Kant and/or Hume, Metaphysical musings, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Unvatting the Brains: Putnam, Bostrom, and thinking the unthinkable

Posted on February 7, 2019

The worry is familiar. All of my experience comes to me via my central nervous system, which is a biochemical electrical network. It can be hacked. The data coming from my eyes and ears and so on are converted to … Continue reading →

Posted in Metaphysical musings, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Minds as predictive engines

Posted on January 4, 2019

(Reading Andy Clark, Surfing Uncertainty (Oxford UP 2015)) I’m no longer sure I know what an “ordinary” theory of mind would look like, but I’m guessing that it would resemble an organized camp of explorers. The explorers, or our senses, venture … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff, Metaphysical musings | Leave a comment

RNZ interview

Posted on September 23, 2018

The Sunday Show of Radio New Zealand interviewed me about my Delphic maxims piece. It was a delight to speak with Jim Mora, the host. You can listen to the interview here, if you like. We vacationed in New Zealand nearly … Continue reading →

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A poisoned peace

Posted on September 18, 2018

“I realize that if through science I can seize phenomena and enumerate them, I cannot, for all that, apprehend the world. Were I to trace its entire relief with my finger, I should not know any more. And you give … Continue reading →

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On the Other Delphic Maxims

Posted on September 7, 2018

Now up at Aeon. The conclusion: The fact that the great majority of maxims on the list can still serve us today is itself worth further reflection. There is no denying that our lives have changed a lot in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical episodes, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff, Stacks of Books | 1 Comment

Say, whatever happened to Casearius?

Posted on August 24, 2018

Readers of Spinoza’s letters will recall the name “Casearius”. Johannes Casearius lived in the same house in Rijnsburg as Spinoza, and Spinoza taught him Cartesian philosophy, an effort which led in part to Spinoza’s book, The Principles of Cartesian Philosophy. … Continue reading →

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