Huenemanniac

Getting distracted by ideas

Books

  • Kolakowski, “The priest and the jester”

    Leszek Kolakowski published an essay in 1959 entitled “The priest and the jester.” In the article, he claims that the question of “whether eschatology is possible” is a crucial one. “Eschatology” is usually regarded as a subject in theology, where it is the study of the goals and ends of human history, or the goals… Continue reading

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  • Thomas Bernhard

    I am embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t heard of him until I read Dale Peck’s NYT book review of two recently published works. Peck says he’s the greatest author of the post-WWII era, which is certainly saying something. But what captured my attention in the review is Peck’s way of locating Bernhard within one… Continue reading

  • Laudan, Truth, error, and criminal law

    I’m just about finished with this book, and I’ve found it very interesting. Laudan approaches the legal process  with strictly epistemological interests, asking whether it’s a good system if what we’re after is convicting bad guys and not convicting good guys. On the whole the answer is “no,” so he engages in some speculation about… Continue reading

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  • More Saramago

    Some time ago I had occasion to celebrate Jose Saramago’s novel, The Cave. I just came across an interesting interview with Saramago, where I learned he wrote a novel entitled The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. Reis is one of Pessoa’s alter egos. Excerpt: But the truth is that we all have to… Continue reading

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  • How time could be an illusion

    So suppose you stumble across a packet of four index cards. They read as follows: #1: “At E there is evidence of M, L, F, and D” #2: “At M there is evidence of D and F” #3: “At G there is evidence of D, E, L, and M” #4: “At T there is evidence… Continue reading

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  • Books update

    Recently read: Close, A Very Short Introduction to Nothing – a neat and fascinating summary of contemporary thought about vacua. Turns out we can’t find nothing anywhere – there’s always something going on. Menand, The Marketplace of Ideas – an intelligent summary of the history general education in American universities, including thoughtful suggestions and some… Continue reading

  • Initial thoughts on Young’s Nietzsche biography

    I just finished Julian Young’s Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography (Cambridge), and wanted to share some initial thoughts about it. Some readers of this blog may wish to straighten me out on a few things, or lend their own observations. I’ll eventually work these first impressions into a more formal review. First things first: this… Continue reading

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  • Strawson, Selves

    I’ve been on “spring break” the past week, which has featured many delights, including a trip with my daughter to Preston, ID (where we dined on Arctic Circle burgers and then drove back home). A separate delight has been reading Galen Strawson’s Selves. His aim is to understand what selves would be, and whether any… Continue reading

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  • Attention Portuguese Spinozists

    If the only thing holding you back from ordering a copy of Interpreting Spinoza is that it isn’t in Portuguese, then take heart: I’ve been informed that a translated edition is in the works. Now the book will be in a language Spinoza himself could have read! Continue reading

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  • Interpreting Spinoza now in paperback

    … and a handsome volume it is. I updated the amazon link on the right. Continue reading

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  • Strawson & narrativity

    Here is a thesis to consider: “One sees or lives or experiences one’s life as a narrative or story of some sort, or at least as a collection of stories.” Call it Narrativity. Many philosophers think the claim is true, and should be true (C. Taylor and A. MacIntyre, prominently). Some have thought it is… Continue reading

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  • A bit more about Strawson’s materialism

    In thinking about it further, I realized my electric blanket metaphor for Strawson’s materialism is misleading. As an analogy, it is better suited for so-called property dualists, who believe that some matter can have properties which are in an important sense immaterial (like “feeling joy” or “hearing C#”). Strawson, in contrast, wants to enlarge or… Continue reading

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  • Strawson, Real Materialism

    What exactly are the boundaries around the things we are likely to call physical? Do all material things have mass? But some of the elements of theoretical physics might not have mass. Do they have to take up space, or have determinate spatial location? Again, some theoretical entities lack these as well. Galen Strawson doesn’t… Continue reading

  • Ladyman and Ross, Every Thing Must Go

    I recently finished this book, which aims at correcting current ways of doing metaphysics by insisting that metaphysicians take seriously what contemporary physics tells us about the world. The problem is that “many” (I guess) contemporary metaphysicians suppose that the world, ultimately, is composed of tiny, billiard-ball like particles, which bang in to each other,… Continue reading

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  • James Kugel’s How to Read the Bible

    Most readers are probably familiar with the Documentary Hypothesis. The basic idea is that the Bible, as an artifact, is best explained by supposing that it is a compilation of several ancient texts, written by different people in different times and cultures. Somebody (“the Redactor,” maybe Ezra) compiled many of the texts by the third… Continue reading

  • Reflections on Darwin and Holmes

    I’ve been reading a weird variety of books lately, two of which are The Cambridge Companion to Charles Darwin and Menand’s The Metaphysical Club (actually, re-reading this one). Several of the essays in the Darwin book concern Darwinism and ethics. I think a reasonable view of the connection between the two is as follows. There… Continue reading

  • Clark’s Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy (1990)

    I should have read this book ages ago. I have read a lot about it — you can count on seeing it cited and discussed by any good recent book on Nietzsche. So I have learned from others what Clark says. But this is my first time reading the book, and I am extremely impressed… Continue reading

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  • His Dark Materials

    I recently finished the trilogy by Philip Pullman, “His Dark Materials.” It is a set of books aimed at young adults, but when I saw the film of “The Golden Compass,” I found the ideas appealing enough to give the books a try. I was not disappointed. Most of the action takes place in a… Continue reading

  • Darwin books

    I recently finished two good books about Darwin. I haven’t known all that much about the man, apart from scattered biographical references and documentaries. I am embarrassed to say I have never read The Origin of the Species, expecting it to be filled with the retelling of facts about bird beaks, snail shells, etc. Nothing… Continue reading

  • Edwards, The Plain Sense of Things

    On Rob’s recommendation, I found and read this book. I truly admire it: this is a case where an author has taken his own path toward understanding a problem that concerns him deeply. The problem is, basically, the problem of nihilism. He wants to understand how to maintain the more general feelings of religiosity while… Continue reading

  • Marriott’s The Lost Tribe

    I just finished this account of a journalist’s encounter with a “lost tribe” in New Guinea, that is, a group of people who had not encountered Europeans prior to 1993. The book is riveting, almost despite itself. Marriott strikes me as naive, foolish, and often obtuse, but, boy, can he write a story. He decides… Continue reading

  • In the middle of reading:

    Composing the Soul, Graham Parkes: this is the book about Nietzsche I wish I could have written. Partly biography, partly philosophical examination, with elegant and erudite connections to Plato, Emerson, Herder, Goethe, and so on. Definitely one of the top Nz books I’ve encountered. Art of Possibility, Benjamin and Roz Zander: got turned on to… Continue reading

  • Saramago’s The Cave

    My wife’s book club is reading The Cave by Jose Saramago. It sounded interesting, so I read it too. It takes place in some nondescript time and place, perhaps in the not-so-distant future. Most of the landscape is barren, except for some small villages, and a city, and in the city a huge complex called… Continue reading

  • Vonnegutian philosophy

    For whatever reason, over the last few weeks I’ve read some Vonnegut novels, including Breakfast of Champions, Timequake, and Hocus Pocus. When I read him years ago, I found him entertaining but somewhat shallow. Now I think he’s hilarious and profound. Moreover, reading him and some econversations with Mike have helped me get a bit… Continue reading