A Bit of History When I arrived in Oxford in 1972, after having studied psychology for the previous four years in Manchester, I was in need of a philosophy supervisor. At that time, I was enrolled in the B.Litt. program, having been deemed by R.M. Hare not qualified to undertake the B.Phil. degree. I had […]
Certainty As a topic in the philosophy of mind, as opposed to epistemology, certainty has not received much attention. I intend to put that right. What kind of mental state is certainty? What is its analysis? I will be asking a series of questions, this being a new field—certainty studies. First, what is the relation […]
The President’s Jet Reclining in his big beautiful bathroom, the president felt things were going well—really well, in fact, frankly. Even the water pressure in his gleaming shower was working well on his magnificent hair. An Arab state had officially made him the gift of a brand-new luxury jet costing a billion dollars (give or […]
Elicitism I will state what I think is the correct account of knowledge, to be set beside empiricism and rationalism. All concepts and perceptual impressions are innately based; what is not innate is their combinations. It is like language: the basic lexicon is innate, as are the basic rules of grammar; what is not innate […]
Locke, Hume, and Mystery Both Locke and Hume were mysterians. Locke stressed the limits of knowledge obtainable by the senses, this being the only basis for human knowledge; he thought that solidity, for example, has a nature we cannot know. Matter in general is a mystery for Locke. Hume focused on causation, but he too […]
Absurdity Every now and then I am struck by the sheer absurdity of my current situation. I live approximately a mile from the University of Miami, where I used to be a philosophy professor. I drive by there frequently. For twelve years I have had no contact with the people in the philosophy department. I […]
President and Pope The president was seething in his presidential bathroom. This time it wasn’t his political enemies or the fake news media or Robert de Niro. It was the pope. The new pope. The American new pope. The problem was obvious: he was drawing big crowds, he was on TV a lot, he was […]
On Empiricism What if empiricism had never been invented? It wasn’t invented till the seventeenth century: there is no trace of it in Plato and Aristotle, or their followers. It took a long time till philosophers got round to it; and it originated only in England not as a world-wide trend. It came from nowhere. […]
Alone I was watching American Idol the other day and Carrie Underwood performed a belting version of the song Alone. I had only faint memories of the song from way back, but it intrigued me as a challenge. It switches from a talky intro to a power ballad chorus. I soon discovered it had been […]
Deficiencies of Trump As a qualified psychologist, I would like to state my opinion of Trump’s mental health (for want of a better term). Is he aware of his ethical and intellectual deficiencies (also athletic)? Some may say that he is not—that he is self-deluded. My own theory is that he is keenly aware of […]