Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Sage Advice

  • Beware ‘Illegal Use of Software’ E-Mail Scam

    I just deleted a suspicious looking e-mail that claimed that I had to appear in court in Costa Mesa re: illegal use of software.  I of course did not open the zip file that would have invited a trojan horse or some other piece of malware into my motherboard.  One dead giveaway was that while…

  • The Wise Live by Probabilities, not by Possibilities

    The worldly wise live by the probable and not by the possible.  It is possible that you will reform the person you want to marry.  But it is not probable.  Don't imagine that you can change a person in any significant way.  What you see now in your partner is what you will get from…

  • Of Hurt and Humor

    Don't tell a hurtful joke and expect the victim to appreciate the humor while abstracting from the hurtfulness.

  • Do Think Twice

    Think twice about attacking a man who owns a printing press. (I am alluding to a famous song in the title.  Which?)

  • How Much Time Should be Spent on Philosophy?

    Our Czech friend Vlastimil Vohanka writes, You blogged that doing philosophy has great value in itself; even if philosophy is aporetic. But how often, or how long per day or month, should one devote to it? Doing philosophy seems (to me at least) to have diminishing returns, if philosophy is aporetic. Or has your experience been different?…

  • On Her Deathbed: “I Fear that There is Nothing on the Other Side”

    This from a correspondent: My grandmother is on her deathbed.  My mother flew out to Boston to be there with her when she dies.  Of course my grandmother is putting up a good fight; however, they expected her to die yesterday.  My mother had a conversation with her while she was lucid.  She asked her,…

  • Accept Love, Accept Aversion

    We must learn to accept people's love, good wishes, and benevolence as gifts without worrying whether we deserve these things or not, and without worrying whether we will ever be in a position to compensate the donors. Similarly, we must learn to accept people's hate and malevolence as a sort of reverse gratuitous donation whether we…

  • A Reason to Take Care of Oneself

    It may be that moral and intellectual progress is possible only here.  After death it may be too late, either because one no longer exists, or because one continues to exist but in a state that does not permit further progress. It is foolish to think that believers in post-mortem survival could have no reason…

  • Two Cures for Envy

    To feel envy is to feel diminished in one's sense of self-worth by the positive attributes or success or well-being of another.  It is in a certain sense the opposite of Schadenfreude.  The envier is pained by another's success or well-being, sometimes to the extent of wanting to destroy what the other has.  The 'schadenfreudian,'…

  • Automotive Profiling

    'Profiling' drives liberals crazy, which is a good reason to do more of it.  No day without political incorrectness.  Here is a form of profiling I engage in, and you should too. You are on the freeway exercising due diligence.  You are not drunk or stoned or yapping on a cell phone.  You espy an…

  • A Question About Marriage

    For many years now I have been an occasional reader of your blog, and I greatly appreciate your insight on many subjects, particularly your criticism of the Left. I am, I hate to admit, an aspiring academic who is taking on enormous debt to finish a Ph.D. in sociology of religion, and am immersed in…

  • It Pays to Publish, but Don’t Pay to Publish

    I am regularly solicited by Open Journal of Philosophy for article submissions.  The e-mails never reveal the dirty little secret behind publishing scams ventures like this, namely, the charges levied against authors.  Poke around a bit, however, and you will find this page: Article Processing Charges Open Journal of Philosophy is an Open Access journal accessible…

  • The Mad Monarchist

    London Karl sent me to The Mad Monarchist, not that he agrees with it.  Apparently, there is no position on any topic that someone won't defend.  But we've known that for a long time.  Descartes said something to that effect. Is anarchism the opposite of monarchism? Anarchism is to political philosophy as eliminative materialism is…

  • Should You Go to Graduate School in Philosophy?

    I have discussed this question several times before.  Here is my short answer.  By all means, go to graduate school in philosophy, but only if you satisfy all of the following conditions. 1. Philosophy is your passion, the one thing you think most worth living for. 2. People in the know have advised you that…

  • The Stoic Insight and Its Limits

    Within limits we have the power to control our minds, our moods, our responses to people and things, and in consequence our happiness.  Happiness is in some measure made or unmade in the mind.  We all know people who make themselves miserable by their refusal to practice very elementary mental hygiene.  Just as I can…