Reminiscences of one who was there 12 Apr 2010 Early on, when I thought I would be an intellectual, a dilettante but still an intellectual, at the age of 17 or so, I read several books that I found at a second hand bookstore (my usual place of recreation). One was a little volume called Critique of Pure Tolerance, and one of the editors was Robert Paul Wolff. In part it led me to think of myself as philosophical, if not then a philosopher. Anyway, he is blogging his memoirs, and I strongly recommend anyone interested in philosophy reads them. Resumption of my Memoirs Memoir — Second Installment Memoirs Third Part Memoir Fourth Installment Memoir Fifth Installment Memoir Sixth Installment Memoir Seventh Installment Memoirs Eighth Installment Memoirs Ninth Installment History Philosophy
Evolution Darwin conference at U Chicago 16 Apr 2009 Yes, I know there are thousands of these this year, and by October we’ll all be tired of them, but this one looks like the main game: Darwin/Chicago 2009. I am, of course, upset not to be invited to speak, but there are a few good names there to make… Read More
Epistemology 50 words for snow, or conceptual confusion 11 Sep 20171 Mar 2019 Series Conceptual confusion The economics of cultural categories What are phenomena? What counts as sociocultural? Species Constructing phenomena Explanations and phenomena In a well-known and generally debunked story, Inuit people have around 50 words for snow. Or so the argument by anthropologist Franz Boas goes. In fact, people who engage… Read More
Philosophy The dogs do bark… 2 Apr 2010 In yet another attempt to special plead for their religion, Australian church leaders have again raised the old canard that “atheists are believers who hate God”. No, that would be a kind of theism, Archbishop Jensen. It’s not hard. This is basic philosophy of religion. You did do some in… Read More
Sorry to disillusion you but you *are* an intellectual by any reasonable definition of the word. And that’s a good thing. You have achieved the goal you set when you were 17. You also have a motorcycle. Very impressive!
This does not disillusion me. It was only that at 17, I thought I’d be a dilettante, since my teachers had uniformly announced that I was actually rather stupid, before I was thrown out of school.
Shame Kant was not a biker. Can you imagine what his Critique Of Pure Motorcycle Maintenance would have been like?
Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind. –in words from the definitive work on motorcycle maintenance.