Lolita’s Tennis I make it a habit (a ritual) to (re-)read a chapter of Lolita every Christmas day. Yesterday was no exception; I chose chapter 20, in which Lolita’s tennis game is lovingly described. Here we are told of “the indescribable itch of rapture that her tennis game produced in me—the teasing delirious feeling of […]
Administrative Expertise I never fail to be impressed by university administrators. They are so wise, so knowledgeable, so insightful, so virtuous. And all without any formal training. Not only do they know about a wide range of academic subjects, they are experts in interpersonal relations—psychology, psychiatry, the ways of the human heart. They are also […]
My Sins Come Christmas time, a man might be forgiven for dwelling on his sins and showing remorse. In that spirit I find myself reflecting on my past misdeeds, and it turns out there are many. For there have been many occasions on which I have formed warm and friendly relationships with students that I […]
Brain Perception I am going to adumbrate a new theory, quite an eye-stinging one. It says that you perceive your own brain. To be more specific, pain is the perception of C-fibers firing. It isn’t C-fibers firing itself but the perception of that.[1] The relation between pain and C-fibers is like that between seeing a […]
Christmas Speaking personally, there is not much about Christmas I like. I am not conventionally religious, still less Christian, so that angle carries little appeal for me. It is also quite exclusionary to dwell on this aspect, given that many people are not Christian and it is meant to be a holiday for anyone who […]
Living Consciousness Panpsychism is the doctrine that elements of mind exist in all physical things, down to atoms and their constituents. And yet we don’t see inanimate things tending towards mentality, despite their alleged quota of it. The mind is confined to animate things. Why should this be? A hypothesis suggests itself: elementary consciousness does […]
