Category: Autobiographical
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Inheritance and Appropriation
The high school I attended required each student to take two years of Latin. Years later the requirement was dropped. When a fundraiser contacted me for a donation, I said, "You eliminated Latin, why should I give you a donation?" He replied that the removal of Latin made room for Chinese. What I should…
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The Seductive Sophistry of Alan Watts
Here. (An entertaining video clip, not too long, that sums up his main doctrine.) Alan Watts was a significant contributor to the Zeitgeist of the 1960s. Just as many in those days were 'turned on' to philosophy by Ayn Rand, others such as myself were pushed toward philosophy by, among other things, Alan Watts and…
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The Dirty and the Funny
The muse of philosophy must have visited my otherwise undistinguished classmate Dolores back in the fifth grade. The topic was dirty jokes and that we should not tell them or listen to them. "But sister," Dolores piped up, "what if you laugh not because the joke is dirty but because it is funny?" It was…
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Jim Ryan’s Story and Mine
Let me start off by recommending Jim Ryan's infrequently updated but very old (since 2002!) Philosoblog, the archives of which contain excellent material worthy of the coveted MavPhil STOA (stamp of approval). The following entry (originally posted February 2005 at my first blog) is in response to my query as to why Ryan left university teaching. JR:…
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Jack London, John Barleycorn, and the Noseless One
Like many American boys, I read plenty of Jack London: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf, Martin Eden, not to mention numerous short stories, some of them unforgettable to this day: "Love of Life," "Moonface," and "To Build a Fire." But I never got around to John Barleycorn until years later…
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Response to Leiter’s Latest Outburst
I have already reported on Brian Leiter's initial unprovoked attack on me. After that 2004 attack, which I chose to ignore, he got in a jab or two which I also ignored, until just the other day when he let loose again with an unprovoked attack. Then I realized that for my own peace of…
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Automotive Frugality
Keith Burgess-Jackson is one frugal dude: I've had only three vehicles in the past 31 years: (1) a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass, purchased from my brother Glenn in May 1983; (2) a 1989 Pontiac Grand Am, purchased new in August 1989; and (3) a 2007 Honda Accord, purchased new in February 2007. How many vehicles have…
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I Feel the Earth Move Under my Feet
I missed Saturday Night at the Oldies because I was in La Mirada, California, for a conference at Biola University. Ed Feser gave the keynote address and I was the commentator. More about the proceedings later, perhaps. But for now a quick make-up: Carole KIng, I Feel the Earth Move, from her 1971 Tapestry album.…
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I Submit to Analysis
Another post from the old blog, dated 3 November 2006. A redacted version, less crude than the original. ……… The worst bores in the world are those who subject their listeners to blow-by-blow accounts of their medical procedures. Fear not. I just want to report that I underwent a screening colonoscopy this morning, and that…
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Hugh McCann on the Implications of Divine Sovereignty
I have in my hands the Winter 2014 issue of American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. It contains (pp. 149-161) my review essay on McCann's 2012 Creation and the Sovereignty of God. Many thanks to Peter Lupu and Hugh McCann for comments and discussion, and to the editors for allowing me to expand my review into a…
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Automotive Frugality and Manual Air Conditioning
This is an old post rescued from the old blog, dated 20 May 2007. Some things have changed. But all the details were true then. ……………………. There are some people with whom I would not want to enter a frugality contest. Keith Burgess-Jackson is one of them. I seem to recall him saying that he…
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Nice but Dumb
I can't believe that this old 16 September 2004 post from my first weblog languished there so long before being brought over, today, to my newer digs. …………… My cat Caissa – named after the goddess of Chess – was feeling under the weather recently, so I took her to the vet for some blood…
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I Add to My Supply of Incandescents
On 11 June 2011, I wrote: Banned on the Left Coast in the People's Republic of Californication! It figures. It's sad to see what has become of my native state. But I am fortunate to flourish in Arizona where bright sun and hard rock and self-reliant liberty-lovers have a suppressive effect on the miasma of…
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The Night Life
The night life ain't no good life, nor is it my life. Morning is to night as virtue to vice. Addendum This bit of substantiation just swam into view.
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For the New Year
One of the elements in my personal liturgy is a reading of the following passage every January 1st. I must have begun the practice in the mid-70s. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Book Four, #276, tr. Kaufmann: For the new year. — I still live, I still think: I still have to live, for I…