Kant and/or Hume – Page 2

December 7, 2012

McDowellian idealism

A colleague of mine took pity on my flailing about in the churning waters of idealism and recommended that I read some John McDowell. Though I try to read a lot, I always find myself astonished at having missed out on things, and that’s the case here. McDowell’s Mind and World starts with an argument, Continue reading

Books, Kant and/or Hume, Metaphysical musings

November 16, 2012

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

Kant and/or Hume, Metaphysical musings

November 9, 2012

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

Kant and/or Hume, Metaphysical musings

April 12, 2012

Hume, the mind, and the world

(Reflections on Peter Kail’s Projection and Realism in Hume’s Philosophy. Oxford, 2007.) The main point of this book is to understand what Hume thinks we “project” upon the world, and what Hume thinks really does exist apart from our perceptions. In the first part, Kail shows that Hume’s account of how we come to believe Continue reading

Books, Kant and/or Hume

January 6, 2012

My own neo-kantianism

To start, let me rehearse Kant’s basic move in explaining our knowledge of the world. Most of us will accept that there are some things we can learn only through experience (like how many donkeys are now in my yard) and some things that are simply true by definition (like anyone with an uncle has Continue reading

Kant and/or Hume, Metaphysical musings

March 21, 2011

The party-pooper principle

The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to adopt the following operational principle: THE PARTY-POOPER PRINCIPLE: Given two, roughly-equal theories, the one that is less attractive is more likely to be true. Theories can be attractive in a variety of ways. Some theories meet deep-seated wishes, like the wish for immortality, Continue reading

Items of the academy / learning, Kant and/or Hume, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff, Metaphysical musings

July 5, 2010

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

Books, Kant and/or Hume, Metaphysical musings

February 27, 2010

Talking at BYU

I visited BYU on Thursday, spoke to their Philosophy Club on “Hume, Kant, and Ultimate Reality,” and spoke to their faculty about the reality of individuals in Spinoza. I had a great time, and was happy to build upon the friendships with faculty members there. The talk about “ultimate reality” grew from these musings about Continue reading

Items of the academy / learning, Kant and/or Hume, This & that in the life of CH

October 22, 2009

The phenomenology of trying to do philosophy while in the middle of a semester

It’s like this. You’re really hungry for beans. But first you need to wash the pot. But then you need a sponge — where is it? Then the phone rings. It’s the guy who took your sponge. Why did he take the sponge, and why is he calling to tell you? Rats, the water is Continue reading

Kant and/or Hume, Metaphysical musings, This & that in the life of CH