The University of Chicago is hosting an interdisciplinary project called Defining Wisdom. The idea is to draw on work across disciplines – philosophy, psychology, sociology, etc. – to try to gain a better picture of the nature and benefits of wisdom. I like the idea, though the project is still in a very early stage,… Continue reading

Because one cannot do otherwise, of course. But more seriously, I have been thinking about this question in the case of Spinoza. It’s clear that he took himself to be a necessitarian — “I have shown clearly enough that from God’s supreme power all things have necessarily flowed by the same necessity and in the… Continue reading

Seen on my bike ride yesterday. Continue reading

See the link on the right. What a handsome cover! Continue reading

I have recently become acquainted with degenerationism, or the view bandied about in the late 19th century that human beings were degenerating. It was clearly a case of psychologists’ enthusiasm getting way beyond their means. A number of thinkers assessed the current state of European culture, found it lacking, and surmised that something must be… Continue reading

There is a path behind our house which runs alongside a canal. I often take the path to campus and it’s always a nice interlude between home and office — trees, birds, animals, water. Each spring the gates to the canal are open and water begins to flow, and I have always wanted to be… Continue reading

The Nietzsche book can now be purchased here. In a few weeks it should be available through Amazon. Continue reading

I am at times sincerely drawn to the attitude Kant takes toward the phenomenal world in his Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics. His view there is that the world is constructed out of an individual’s experience. I have an experience, ordered in space and time. I am able to construct out of that experience what… Continue reading

So sometimes people ask me: what do you do for fun in your little western mountain town? Well, last night was a great example. I met my friends Will (first violin) and Chris (Holst expert) at a local bar to exchange highly-coveted artwork, and then determine if that was where the hookers hung out. (No.… Continue reading

Walter Sobchak: Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos. Continue reading

Here is the link. Enriquez studies the intersections of science, business, society, life sciences, and robotics. He founded Harvard Business School’s Life Sciences Project, and reformed Mexico’s economic system. So, a pretty interesting guy. This lecture is on the current banking crisis, the promises of biological research, and the future of human evolution. Continue reading

It is bracing to reflect from time to time on the utter senselessness of the very real institutions we inhabit. Take the university, for instance. The history of the university, as we now know it, is tangled and complicated (see here for an overview), but one of the central reasons for our universities being structured… Continue reading

It has been a learning semester. First, there was that whole thing about awards (embarrassing). Then there was also being promoted to full professor (liberating, in a way; no further promotions to seek). And each of the two classes I taught were disasters — nothing likely to land me in jail, but enough to throw… Continue reading

You may recall my ambivalence toward getting awards. (If not, see here.) I shamelessly chased after an award this year, and was lucky enough to get it, with the thought that the award would pay $500, and I could have the fun of calculating whether the prize was worth all the time it required. I’ve… Continue reading

The last few lines from Billy Collins, “This Little Piggy Went to Market”: By the way, I am completely down with going “Wee wee wee” all the way home, having done that many times and knowing exactly how it feels. Continue reading

“The human person, once perceiving that the Revelation of the Word is a condemnation of the self, casts away all thoughts of his own merit . . . . The more he examines his life, the more he looks into himself with complete honesty, the more clearly he perceives that what he has is a… Continue reading

For a while I wanted to be a history major. This was entirely due to a professor I had, Jack McGovern. He had a great mind, and a real passion for his subject, and was a true mensch. Then I realized that studying history didn’t just mean listening to McGovern lecture, and it meant figuring… Continue reading

You might think, from my last post, that I would condemn the way Jonathan Bennett does history of philosophy. But Bennett is an exception. Bennett’s critics often charge him with historical insensitivity and anachronism. To exaggerate a bit, they say something along the lines of “Bennett treats historical texts as if they were published yesterday.… Continue reading

When I was in grad school, I remember there being some discussion among my professors about interpretive charity. The basic idea is simply good sense: try not to interpret what you hear or read as coming from a moron. The background assumption is that most people are not morons, and so if there are two… Continue reading

We had to put down our dog Annie today. Fifteen years old. She was a real sweetie. Continue reading

It is really a delight to be invited to a place where people have no choice but to listen to your ideas and give the impression of being interested. Everyone should have that experience from time to time, and if they are lucky the place will be Columbia, SC. The couple of days I spent… Continue reading

Looking for comments. I will be presenting it at U South Carolina next week. [UPDATED: it has an end now.] Nietzsche’s natzschuralism Continue reading

It is a little-known fact, but the phrase “small potatoes” actually stems from a practice among state universities in the middle ages. Every year, the medieval administrators would pass out awards to the faculty, and the award in each case was a very small potato, which was useful in its own way, and tasty, but… Continue reading

I haven’t been posting lately, since I’ve been working on a couple of Nz papers, with quickly-approaching deadlines. Here is a link to one of them through SSRN: Nietzsche and the perspective of life It’s a much-revised version of the “Valuing from life’s perspective” paper. In it I try to explain what “Life’s perspective” is,… Continue reading

Darn it! Where is that blasted passage where Nietzsche wishes upon his friends every hardship, misfortune, illness, etc.? Continue reading