Malcolm Budd I just found out that Malcolm Budd has died. He was my colleague and close friend at UCL when we were both there (1974-85). We had lunch and tea together every work day, sometimes breakfast. He was a person of enormous intelligence, rock-solid integrity, and great personal charm (humorous, handsome, generous). He was […]
Deception, Mimicry, and Meaning If mimicry lies somewhere in the evolutionary history of meaning,[1] and mimicry involves deception, then deception is at the heart of meaning. Language is custom-made for lying. Speech has lying in its DNA, literally. The octopus can change its color and texture to mimic its environment to an uncanny degree, the […]
Favorites Philosophy is difficult, a demanding mistress. I state the obvious. Who do I think responded best to its rigors? My top three are Thomas Nagel, Michael Ayers, and Bernard Suits—each in their different ways. They each managed to scale a high tree, swim in deep water, breathe a finer air. I won’t here summarize […]
My Honest Views I think David Lewis was off his rocker, I think Donald Davidson was far too impressed by elementary logic and decision theory, I think Willard Quine was a mediocre logician with some philosophical side-interests, I think Daniel Dennett never understood philosophy, I think Michael Dummett was a dimwit outside of his narrow […]
A New Theory of Knowledge Knowledge is the conscious impingement of the world on the soul. I don’t think we can do better than this after all these years: it captures the essence. Knowledge is the (conscious) impingement of the world on the soul. These are its conceptual ingredients. Forget true justified belief, or acquaintance, […]
007 Beautiful Bond-girl to Bond: “So, 007, what is your name?” Bond: “Bond, James Bond”. Girl: “Ah, James Bond”. Bond: “No, Bond James-Bond”. Girl: “I see. Hello Mr. James-Bond. Or should I call you Bond?”. Bond: “Bond would be fine. And what is your name?” Girl: “Pussy, Pussy Galore”. Bond: “Interesting—Pussy Galore”. Girl: “No, it […]
Biography of Nabokov I have just finished reading the first volume of Brain Boyd’s magisterial (there is no other word) biography of Nabokov. At 500 pages it covers only his years in Russia and other European countries. I have never felt so steeped in the great man, and I have been seriously steeped. I now […]
Inside the Baseline Most serious tennis players start their practice session with a few minutes of mini-tennis, i.e., hitting the ball softly within the service area. This gets you used to controlling the ball. I like to supplement this with what I call aggressive mini-tennis: hitting the ball as fast as you can within the […]
