Aware is finished. Now for something different 14 May 202414 May 2024 So I finished presenting the book Aware on my substack, which will now ferment in my bottom drawer (metaphorically) until it ripens. While that is happening I am preparing to edit some nineteenth century sources for discussions of classification, taxonomy, species, higher and lower taxa, and many other subjects. Does anyone have any requests for hard-to-find sources they would like to use in teaching? Mostly Anglophone, and reaching from the 1770s or so to the beginning of the Great War. Answer in comments or direct in email. Biology Epistemology History Natural Classification Philosophy Science Species and systematics Species concept Systematics
Epistemology Positivism about agnosticism 22 Nov 201122 Nov 2011 Following up from my last post on the logical and semantic aspects of agnosticism, I wish to make a comment regarding this ill-tempered piece by Jennifer Michael Hecht. It seems that one may not be an agnostic if one is a secularist or skeptic. Why? Because: Agnositicsm points this excellent… Read More
Epistemology Defining philosophy 22 May 201018 Sep 2017 While I am travelling, of course an interesting net phenomenon occurs: people trying to define what philosophy is. It began with Simon Critchley opening a philosophy blog in the New York Times. As pleased as some are to see such a beast, they objected to Critchley being the blogger, and… Read More
History The World According to Genesis: Language and Society 15 Jun 2007 After the Flood, the earth is repopulated, and so R and P give us a list of notable ancestors. In 10:4-5 they say “And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his… Read More