Assertion and Command There is such a thing as speech act theory, but ought there to be? Philosophers and linguists usually distinguish assertion, command, and question: these are the three main types of speech act. Questions are often assimilated to commands (requests) because they can be construed as requests for information (“Please tell me whether […]
Ode to a Wall I live near a tennis wall. It is about 40 feet wide and 15 feet high, green with a white line at net height. It is said that Federer once played at it. It is fronted by two tennis court halves, blue and white, so as to simulate real play. The […]
Bathroom Blues The president was loitering in one of the many bathrooms of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. As a construction person, he was much interested in the décor of this palatial retreat. So much fine marble! So much ornate gold! It made Mara Lago look paltry and poor in comparison. He was having […]
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 […]