Aretha Franklin: why we love America. Donald Trump: why we hate America. I’m aiming for 76 as my expiry date. Her lack of glamor is part of the reason for her transcendence. That voice. The TV coverage was gratifying and RESPECT accorded a good deal of respect as a feminist anthem. Fair enough, it has […]
Knowledge, Opinion, and Fantasy Plato wished to know the difference between knowledge and opinion. His idea, much elaborated over the centuries, is that something needs to be added to opinion to get knowledge. Knowledge is opinion plussomething—truth, justification, reliability, etc. Certainly we can agree that knowledge is more than opinion, […]
I notice that my favorite projective paranoid, Brian Leiter, has taken to calling me a delusional narcissist (clear-eyed sentimentalist would be more accurate). Why not throw in bipolar schizophrenic or depressive psychopath? Anything goes, right. Completely ridiculous, but so what. Why, Brian, why? But don’t let me stop you, old chap. You are clearly suffering […]
I just recorded an enjoyable podcast with Michael Shermer about mysteries etc. It should be out in a week or so. I liked it because it was long–a full hour and half. No soundbites. He was an excellent interlocutor.
This seems apropos: Absolute Deontology Kant’s position that there cannot be a case of morally permissible lying has not been met with much enthusiasm. The idea of absolute moral rules thus seems mistaken. W.D. Ross sought to remedy the problem for deontological ethics by qualifying the force of moral rules: instead of saying […]
We are now a deceptocracy: government run by continuous lies. The key feature of government in 1984 is precisely that the whole thing is held together by a dense web of lies. The non-acceptance of lies is punishable by death.
Sad about Anthony Bourdain. Apparently suicide has increased dramatically in the US in recent years. My explanation: people have got a lot more disgusting recently and sensitive souls can’t stand it. Very nice to see Simona Halep win the French Open–and what a match! I was impressed with Sloan Stephens’ graciousness in losing. Trump goes […]
I just watched the first episode. I had high expectations, being such an admirer of the novels, and it lived up to them. Benedict Cumberbatch captured the “hero” perfectly. Disturbing stuff, but beautifully rendered. The brilliance and originality of the novels shone through. The series has kept up the quality and is one of the […]
My favorite people of the moment are: Don Lemon, Kamau Bell, Janelle Monae, Van Jones, Stephen Curry, April Ryan, Laura Coates, Chadwick Boseman, and Lupita N’Yongo. Do they have anything (significant) in common? Not that I can see.
Of course these two things are opposed. But what leads to tribalism and the consequent divorce from truth? Tribalism is a substitute for truth–it’s what you cleave to when truth isn’t going your way. It takes up the slack between wish and fact. If your beliefs can’t be true, they can at least agree with […]