Wittgenstein’s Ontology The Tractatus begins with Wittgenstein’s ontology: facts, totalities of facts, states of affairs, objects, combinations of objects, etc. By contrast, the Investigations does not begin in that way: it begins with language—and it goes on in the same way. No reader could hazard a guess as to Wittgenstein’s ontology in the Investigations. Certainly, […]
The New Cogito I think, therefore I am (not extended) I think, therefore I am (made of two parts) I think, therefore I am (not an animal) I think, therefore I am (not getting out of bed today) I think, therefore I am (never going to get married) I think, therefore I am (not very […]
Counting Worlds We encounter the word “world” often in philosophy, particularly in the phrases “possible worlds” and “the actual world” but also in the unmodified “the world”. We also speak in philosophy of “the physical world” or “the biological world” or “the world of science”. What does the word “world” mean in these locutions? Does […]
Time and Rock n’ Roll We all take a beating from time. Each day, over a lifetime. We can’t beat time. But we can beat to time. Rock n’ roll is our attempt to master time, to fight time back. It’s not about sex, it’s about the need to dominate time. That’s why the drums […]
Being and Doing Two highly general concepts run through the history of philosophy (and science): being and doing. They shape how the subject is conceptualized, yet they don’t tend to be considered in their own right. It is true that both concepts are hard to articulate, and their interrelations are obscure. Here I will describe […]
Coco played beautifully and thoroughly deserved her win. But the weakness in her forehand is undeniable (and frequently commented upon). By contrast her backhand is solid as a rock and very powerful. Why the difference? Because she uses a two-handed backhand and a one-handed forehand: she obviously gets help from her left hand on the […]
Metaphysical Necessity Reexamined When Kripke introduced the phrase “metaphysical necessity” in Naming and Necessity he didn’t say much about the nature of this type of necessity beyond distinguishing it from the a priori and so-called epistemic necessity. These are his words: “The second concept which is in question is that of necessity. Sometimes this is […]
Easy Cosmology It took over 2000 years to discover the correct cosmology: the one formulated by Isaac Newton. The features of this cosmology include a heliocentric solar system, a moving earth (diurnal and annual), a unified theory of terrestrial and celestial motion, a universal force of gravity, elliptical orbits, and an account of moons, comets, […]
Yesterday the Stones released their first album of original material in 18 years. I watched the video of the new single “Angry With Me” and am happy to report that it is a triumph. The record rocks. Good drumming, great guitar licks, and Mick in fine voice. The video stars the incomparable Sydney Sweeney who […]
An Argument Against Skepticism The skeptic claims that we are wrong to credit ourselves with knowledge. Our belief that we possess knowledge is a false belief: we make an error when we ascribe knowledge to ourselves. But why do we make this error? On this question the skeptic is strangely silent: we are not told […]