Category: History of Philosophy
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Chariots of Philosophical Fire
The University of Oxford dominated philosophy in the twentieth century. Three new books examine the brilliant if eccentric minds nurtured there. Excerpt: Parfit was another maniac who came to possess a religious fervor for philosophy. As Edmonds affectionately details, Parfit would read while brushing his teeth, and he’d read—naked—while riding on his recumbent exercise bike.…
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Nisi duae res necessariae
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Too Late Again!
Every once in while I will get the notion to send 'fan mail' to a philosopher whose work I am reading and for whose work I am grateful. But I am sometimes too late. The search for an e-mail address turns up an obituary. The last time this occurred was when I wanted to congratulate…
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Husserl and Heidegger
Husserl seems to think that everything can be brought into the light of adequate, indeed apodictic, evidence. The dark and hidden get their revenge in his most distinguished student, Heidegger.
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Husserl, Knight of Reason
Edmund Husserl was born on this date in 1859. How do we honor a philosopher? By re-enacting his thoughts, sympathetically, yet critically. Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas. Ich muss meinen Weg gehen so sicher, so fest entschlossen und so ernst wie Duerers Ritter, Tod und Teufel. "I must go my way as surely,…
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Of Coulter and Kant, Screwed Pooches, and Milked He Goats
Ann Coulter: Everyone who screwed the pooch on this one better realize fast: All that matters is immigration. It's all that matters to the country, and it's all that matters for winning elections. She's right: read what she has to say. What caught my eye, however, was the expression 'screw the pooch.' I now send you to…
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Can Anyone Recommend a Good History of Philosophy?
A graduate student in philosophy asks about histories of philosophy: Suppose I wanted, over time, to work through a text or series of texts. Which ones are worthy of consideration? I've heard good things about Copleston's 11 volumes. There's also Russell's history of western philosophy and Anthony Kenny has done a history as well. Do…
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Is Hegel Guilty of ‘Epochism’?
In these politically correct times we hear much of racism, sexism, ageism, speciesism, and even heterosexism. Why not then epochism, the arbitrary denigration of entire historical epochs? Some years back, a television commentator referred to the Islamist beheading of Nicholas Berg as “medieval.” As I remarked to my wife, “That fellow is slamming an entire…
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Avicenna’s God and the Queen of England
For a long time now I have been wanting to study Frederick D. Wilhelmsen's hard-to-find The Paradoxical Structure of Existence. Sunday I got lucky at Bookman's and found the obscure treatise for a measly six semolians. I've read the first five chapters and and they're good. There is a lack of analytical rigor here and there,…
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Neglected Philosophers
It is unfortunate that a philosopher like Heidegger receives a vast amount of attention, and indeed more than he deserves, while a philosopher such as Wolfgang Cramer is scarcely read at all. I have German correspondents who have first heard of Cramer from me, an American. I admit to being part of the problem: I…
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Siger of Brabant on Why Something Rather Than Nothing
London Ed offers this quick, over-breakfast but accurate as far as I can tell translation from the Latin (available at Ed's site): For not every being has a cause of its being, nor does every question about being have a cause. For if it is asked why there is something in the natural world rather…