Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Books

  • On Taking One’s Time in Philosophy

    Both Brentano and Wittgenstein advise philosophers to take their time. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value (University of Chicago Press, 1980), p. 80: Der Gruss der Philosophen unter einander sollte sein: "Lass Dir Zeit!" This is how philosophers should greet one another: "Take your time!" A similar thought is to be found in Franz Brentano, though I have…

  • Reader Requests Advice re: Learning Basics of Philosophical Argumentation

    A New Zealand reader writes,   I was hoping if you are able to provide me with some guidance regarding where to begin learning the basics of philosophical arguments. I’ve been trying to understand how to evaluate political and theological debates for awhile, but despite my interest I often find them go away over my…

  • Edward Feser, Immortal Souls: A Treatise on Human Nature

    I want to thank Ed Feser for sending me a copy of his latest contribution to Thomistic Studies.   Immortal Souls provides as ambitious and complete a defense of Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophical anthropology as is currently in print. Among the many topics covered are the reality and unity of the self, the immateriality of the intellect, the freedom…

  • Reading Now: Alex Marlow, Breaking Biden

    Subtitle: "Exposing the hidden forces and secret money machine behind Joe Biden, his family, and his administration." (Threshold, 2023).  Excerpt: Intellectually, Republicans understand that to have a nation, you need a border.  [. . .] But the establishment isn't going to solve a problem if the solution is going to cost them a lot of…

  • The Anthony G. Flood Book Service . . .

    . . . earns the coveted plenary MavPhil endorsement. Having relieved him of many a volume, I can attest to the high quality of his service. His descriptions are accurate, his prices fair, the packaging professional, and he provides tracking data. See here for his offerings and contact info. 

  • Termitic Librarians

    Library 'science' now attracts the mindlessly presentist, the terminally woke-assed, the viciously anti-civilizational, and the erasers of the historical record. See here and here.   Build private libraries and be prepared to defend them.  In your will, specify a worthy, like-minded heir to whom to bequeath the library that you have spent a lifetime building along…

  • Reader Asks: What Should I Read?

    Nathaniel T. writes, In the new year, I'm committing to some more regular reading habits.    What serious books would you recommend to someone outside academia who has about half an hour uninterrupted in the morning to read, three times a week? How about a list that would last that person a year?    Here…

  • Word of the Day: Peritus

    Merriam-Webster: "an expert (as in theology or canon law) who advises and assists the hierarchy (as in the drafting of schemata) at a Vatican council." I was sent to the dictionary by this communication from Tony Flood: Bill, I remember Lonergan and other Vatican II periti refer[ring] disparagingly (in their writings) to the "theology of the manuals,"…

  • Book Lust

    The old man's libido may be on the wane, but this man's book lust  remains as stiff-standing as ever.  I'm reading along in Anthony Kenny's Aquinas on Being and I find a footnote in which he praises a certain Hermann Weidemann's article contained in a certain anthology. I think, "Oh boy, when I am in…

  • Withdrawn from Circulation

    Substack latest.

  • Homo Americanus: The Rise of Totalitarian Democracy in America

    Ordered yesterday, arrived today. That's what I call service. Only in America, but then what's with the 'wokery' of Bezos and the boys?  Turn the USA into a Soviet-style shithole and then what motive would anyone have to innovate? A bit of a paradox. Did the US defeat the SU to become SU 2? By…

  • Spencer Case Reviews Dissident Philosophers

    At Quillette. The fair and thorough review concludes: Together, the essays collected in Dissident Philosophers offer a fascinating and valuable glimpse into the lives and minds of marginalized thinkers. The contributors explore some of the social pressures that enforce official and unofficial orthodoxies, and give some indication of the interesting research proposals that aren’t being pursued as…

  • Stalin the Bookman

    Here is a review of Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin's Library: A Dictator and his Books. Excerpts: He was also an avid reader. Roberts’s book begins as an analysis of the personal library Stalin left behind, scattered around his various dachas and offices. It comprised some 25,000 volumes, covering a wide range of subjects including Marxism, political…

  • Not All Academic Philosophers are Leftists!

    Dissident Philosophers Voices Against the Political Current of the Academy EDITED BY T. ALLAN HILLMAN AND TULLY BORLAND The book consists of sixteen essays (and an introduction) from prominent philosophers who are at odds with the predominant political trend(s) of academic philosophy, political trend(s) primarily associated with leftism. Some of these philosophers identify explicitly with the…

  • Withdrawn from Circulation

    The very best books, or so it seems, are usually the ones that get withdrawn from circulation in local public libraries, while the trash remains on the shelves. The librarians' bad judgment, however,  redounds to my benefit as I am able to purchase fine books for fifty cents a pop. A while back, the literary…