Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Blogging

  • The Constructive Curmudgeon

    I don't know whether he is an antediluvian and a bibliomaniac, but Douglas Groothuis is a self-professed curmudgeon, albeit of a constructive stripe. I am not persuaded by his case for Biblical inerrancy, but I find his political observations astute, as in this list of reasons not to vote for Obama.  Read the list! By the way,…

  • Thoughts on Blogging

    A fellow blogger inquires, " How did you get your blog 'noticed' or 'visited'? And how long did it take? I have had a few spikes from your blog and American Catholic, but the visits seem to have slowed down. Of course, it may be that getting people interested involves actual writing, as opposed to simple…

  • The Blogger Slacker Award

    I hereby present the coveted MavPhil Blogger Slacker Award to Harriet Baber of The Enlightenment Project.  So far this year, she has uploaded a grand total of two posts.  In 2011 she managed to scribble only eleven.  That averages to less than one a month.  It's a pity: her cantankerous and idiosyncratic entries  make for enjoyable…

  • Vanity Plates

    I reckon most motorists find vanity plates distasteful.   Upon seeing a plate bearing the letters 'Ph.D.' or 'M.D.' or 'J.D.,' the response is likely to be: BFD! In any case, who needs vanity plates when one can have for free one's very own vanity blog? And weblogs have this advantage: they are not in people's…

  • Would Ortega Have Been a Blogger?

    Julian Marias on his master, Ortega y Gasset: Throughout his life he wrote circumstantial, occasional, studies, in which he went straight to the point, to say something, to  communicate to the reader — a very particular reader, whose figure  gradually changed over the course of time — certain truths, certain warnings, certain very concrete exhortations.…

  • Typos and the Pleasures of Blogging

    One of the pleasures of blogging, for me at least, is re-reading what I have written.  But then I discover the typographical errors.  I seem to be almost blind to them: I see past words to their sense, though sense is not something literally to be seen. (Here, in nuce, is yet another argument against physicalism.)…

  • Of Brussels Sprouts and Professor Mondo

    Professor Mondo describes himself as follows: I am a medievalist at a small college in a small college town. I like reading, writing, music, and thinking — practicing any of these individually or in combination. Turnoffs include Brussels sprouts, bad music, and creeping totalitarianism. Excellent, except I simply do not understand food aversions.  Nothing edible…

  • There is no God but God and ‘Coffee’ is His Name

    Image taken from Appeared-to-Blogly, the proprietor of which states that the two loves of his life are coffee and books.  For expressing that sentiment alone, he deserves and receives a link.

  • Right Side Bar Update

    I've been slacking off when it comes to the right side bar.    I apologize for not linking to some of you who  link to me:  I'm a lazybones when it comes to 'housekeeping' and technical minutiae. Here's what's new: On-site search engine added.  Try it with 'sex,' 'lust,' 'greed,' 'money.' Ad Free Blog logo added.…

  • Third Anniversary of the TypePad Incarnation of Maverick Philosopher

    This weblog commenced  on 4 May 2004 and has been in operation for seven and a half years.  This, the latest incarnation, the Typepad version, began on Halloween 2008.  Here are the posts from three years ago. Typepad is not the perfect platform; I doubt if there is one.  But it is superior for my…

  • First Things

    A tip of the hat to Joe Carter of First Things who links to and substantially quotes from my Could the Mind be the Brain?  On the topic of original sin which is exercising me these days I recommend an excellent First Things article by Edward T. Oakes, Original Sin: A Disputation. And I note…

  • Why Blog?

    To know your own mind.  To actualize your own mind. To attract a few like-minded travellers on the road to truth.  (And to  learn how to write in this pithy, telegraphic, and  non-academic style.)

  • Another Reader Who Prefers Comments Disabled

    Yesterday I mentioned that I have received e-mail from readers who prefer blogs that do not allow comments. Here is another just over the transom from a reader in Lincoln, England: One of the reasons, but not the most important consideration, why I read your blog is because you don't permit comments. There is a…

  • Why I Don’t Allow Comments

    Why don't I allow comments on most of my posts?  Part of the reason is the 'high level' of discussion that tends to occur in threads attached to posts that address 'hot button' issues.  A good example is the 'commentary' elicited by Why Sexism is Obsolete over at Victor Reppert's place.  Not an edifying spectacle. …

  • Second Thoughts: A Philosophy Blog

    Readers who have stuck with me over the years will remember commenter 'Spur' whose comments were the best I received at the old Powerblogs site.  Safely ensconced in an academic position, he now enters the blogosphere under his real name, Stephen Puryear.  His weblog is entitled Second Thoughts. I recently reposted from the old blog Hume's Fork…