Accents Nowadays people recommend speaking in the same accent you were brought up to speak, whatever that may be, in the interests of linguistic diversity. I disagree. I myself first spoke in a Geordie accent, because I was born in Newcastle; my parents spoke Geordie their whole life. My family moved to Gillingham Kent when […]
Objective Truth We can take subjective and objective views of the same facts: we can conceive of the object by reference to ourselves (“the object I am seeing now”) or by abstracting away from our specific characteristics and thinking from no particular point of view (“the planet next to planet Earth”).[1] This general point applies […]
2026 I may as well make my predictions for the coming year, for what they are worth (sixpence perhaps). I think collective insanity will continue to increase, particularly on the right but also on the left. The descent into savagery will continue (just look at Abby Phillip’s nightly show). I think Me Too will suffer […]
Locating Meaning Where is meaning? Where is it located? This is a good question, because not easy to answer; maybe answering it would give us some idea of the nature of meaning. Is it in the external world, or in the mind (conscious or unconscious), or in the soul (immaterial substance), or in the body […]
Trump’s Christmas Yesterday was a holiday—from Trump. Nothing on the news about hm. No one killed or deported or insulted or demeaned or defamed. It was a welcome relief. But it set me wondering: when will he re-name Christmas “Trump Christmas”? When will he monetize it? He clearly envies Santa his popularity and there is […]
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 […]
Brain Belief We have beliefs about our mind, but do we have beliefs about our brain?[1] That is, do we have beliefs about our brain without knowing anything about our brain? To be more precise, we have de dicto beliefs about our mind, but do we also have de re beliefs about our brain? If […]
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 […]