Beatles’ Covers The orthodox view is that the Beatles recorded covers before they came into their full powers and wrote their own songs, which made for much better records. This is completely wrong: their covers were magnificent, their originals not always that great. They should have continued to record covers throughout their career; it might […]
Mistakes and Rules Yesterday I was talking to a guy over at the tennis center; we were discussing the idea of changing the size of the service area so as to reduce the dominance of the serve. The guy, Antonio, was born in Cuba, moved to the USA at an early age, and now lives […]
Dark Mind It is a melancholy thought that one’s internal organs live out their life in complete darkness.[1] They never see the light of day or feel the warmth of the sun upon them. Sunlight is unknown to them; no photons reach their surface. The brain is only centimeters from the sun-bathed head but it […]
Solutionism I will define solutionism as the doctrine that all philosophical problems have solutions that are in principle available to us. It is the opposite of mysterianism. It characterizes an attitude or mindset with respect to the problems of philosophy—the solubility attitude or assumption. It deserves to be called an ideology. I can best explain […]
Philosophy Summarized Philosophy is a human construction with a human history, like art and politics. It has origins, antecedents, revolutions, and counterrevolutions. It evolves. I am going to describe this history from Descartes to the present day. The brush will be broad but hard-edged. It is all about Descartes and reactions to him. He had […]
Intellectual Impact I am interested in the intellectual impact of this blog on the minds of its readers (who range from all over the world). What is it doing to your minds? I ask this as an educational psychologist manque. What you get here is a barrage of subversive thought, relative to received opinion, though […]
Womanly Men I have argued that all men are biologically women to some degree, because of pregnancy and child rearing.[1]This should have implications for psychology: male psychology should include a female psychological component. Do we see any sign of that? We can certainly imagine a species much like us except that the males are psychologically […]
Existentialist Metaphysics I won’t attempt to explain, let alone justify, the existentialist philosophy laid out in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness; I will simply presuppose it. My concern is with the metaphysics that goes along with it (which Sartre completely ignores).[1] We have the in-itself and the for-itself. The in-itself is what it is; the for-itself […]
Incompatible Minds It is generally supposed that dualism is at least logically consistent, if riddled with other difficulties. There is no incompatibility between having both a mind and a body; a single thing (a person) could be both material and immaterial. One doesn’t rule out the other; you don’t contradict yourself if you say that […]
Circles of Being Let’s take analytical philosophy to a place it has never been before—into the heart of darkness. We have been up sunlit rivers into low-lying bush (necessary and sufficient conditions etc.), but now we must venture into the depths of the jungle to seek out new life and new forms, the basic structures […]