2024 Resolutions I don’t have any, except one I can’t implement. I would like to ban all teaching of my work in American philosophy departments. Why should I let the products of my labor be used for free by people who refuse to employ me? Shouldn’t there be a law against this? Shouldn’t I have […]
Does the Mind Age? The mind has an age, but does it age? The body also has an age, and it does age. The person has an age, and that thing too ages. How old are these things? The body is probably the oldest, because its existence pre-dates the existence of both mind and person […]
Experimental Atomic Psychology Is there any evidence for the atomic hypothesis in psychology, however slender? It certainly doesn’t seem to us that our consciousness is composed of little psychic particles separated in space—the analogue of physical particles. But there is one area in which the hypothesis enjoys some phenomenological support—I mean, the experience we have […]
Atomic Psychology Atomic physics has achieved the status of common sense. It is hard now to understand why it took so long to arrive at it. Despite the efforts of a couple of pre-Socratics, it took till the nineteenth and twentieth century till atomic physics came into its own, driven by technology. People just didn’t […]
Ditto this paper. The Cruel Gene I can forgive the genes their selfishness; it is their cruelty I can’t forgive.[1] I understand their need to build survival machines to preserve themselves until they can replicate: they need the secure fortress of an animal body. But why did they have to […]
This is an earlier paper that I am re-posting because of the interest shown in “Evolution of Pain”. Pain and Unintelligent Design Pain is a very widespread biological adaptation. Pain receptors are everywhere in the animal world. Evidently pain serves the purposes of the genes—it enables survival. It is not just a by-product or holdover; […]
Can There Be a Theory of Meaning? I will do what is never done: list all the important properties of meaning, in no particular order. First, meaning is combinatorial: meanings combine to form phrase-like and sentence-like structures. Second, meanings are world-correlated: they refer, link to reality, represent how things are. Third, they are use-determining: what […]
Performance Philosophy There is one aspect of being a philosophy professor that I don’t miss: the performance aspect. I mean the giving of lectures and conference presentations. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t much like it either. It doesn’t mesh with the essential work of being a philosopher, i.e., thinking, reading, and writing. You […]
A parody of the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun. Here Comes the Sun Again Here comes the sun again Smiling its salesman’s smile Sun, you are so seductive You want to hold me for a while Oh sun, you’re irresistible How can I turn you away When I feel your warmth on my face […]
I’m reading Paul McCartney’s The Lyrics and figured I needed to write a road song (compare Route 66). A Road Song I got my foot on the gas I got my hands on the wheel I’m heading down to Miami To seal the deal I’m a real estate broker If you really want to […]