Philosophy Summarized Philosophy is a human construction with a human history, like art and politics. It has origins, antecedents, revolutions, and counterrevolutions. It evolves. I am going to describe this history from Descartes to the present day. The brush will be broad but hard-edged. It is all about Descartes and reactions to him. He had […]
Intellectual Impact I am interested in the intellectual impact of this blog on the minds of its readers (who range from all over the world). What is it doing to your minds? I ask this as an educational psychologist manque. What you get here is a barrage of subversive thought, relative to received opinion, though […]
Womanly Men I have argued that all men are biologically women to some degree, because of pregnancy and child rearing.[1]This should have implications for psychology: male psychology should include a female psychological component. Do we see any sign of that? We can certainly imagine a species much like us except that the males are psychologically […]
Existentialist Metaphysics I won’t attempt to explain, let alone justify, the existentialist philosophy laid out in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness; I will simply presuppose it. My concern is with the metaphysics that goes along with it (which Sartre completely ignores).[1] We have the in-itself and the for-itself. The in-itself is what it is; the for-itself […]
Incompatible Minds It is generally supposed that dualism is at least logically consistent, if riddled with other difficulties. There is no incompatibility between having both a mind and a body; a single thing (a person) could be both material and immaterial. One doesn’t rule out the other; you don’t contradict yourself if you say that […]
Circles of Being Let’s take analytical philosophy to a place it has never been before—into the heart of darkness. We have been up sunlit rivers into low-lying bush (necessary and sufficient conditions etc.), but now we must venture into the depths of the jungle to seek out new life and new forms, the basic structures […]
Are Women Men? The answer is a categorical no, but the question is interesting in itself. Men are women, but women are not men.[1] To establish this, we need to know the essence of men or male organisms generally. The essence of maleness is depositing sperm in the female body and not containing the resulting […]
Are Men Women? I mean this question literally: are men really women? Are they deep down, biologically, women in disguise—and a thin disguise at that? When you meet a man are you actually meeting a woman? I will give a quick proof that they are: men have nipples; anyone with nipples is a woman; therefore, […]
