Author Archives: Huenemann

About Huenemann

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

Is there such a thing as the history of philosophy?

Posted on July 31, 2019

(Reading Christia Mercer. “The Contextualist Revolution in Early Modern Philosophy.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 57, no. 3 (2019): 529-548.) Christia Mercer has revisited the methodological battles that have waged among scholars of the history of philosophy. She uses … Continue reading →

Posted in Items of the academy / learning | Leave a comment

Hobbes and coins

Posted on July 7, 2019

Thomas Hobbes saw humans as purely mechanical devices. External objects press against us in one way or another, setting off a chain reaction of interior pulleys, wheels, and ratchets that engage one another and result in some version of “Cuckoo!” … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical episodes | 2 Comments

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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