Category: Tributes
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In Praise of a Lowly Adjunct
The entry below was written on 18 May 2009 and posted the same day. I had meant to send it to Dr. Loretta Morris, Richard's widow, but couldn't find her e-mail address. The other day I discovered her obituary. So here is another case of too late again. …………………………………. The best undergraduate philosophy teacher I…
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Maximilian Kolbe
Today is the feast of Maximilian Kolbe. Although it is a deep and dangerous illusion of the Left to suppose that man is inherently good and that it is merely such contingent and remediable factors as environment, opportunity, upbringing and the like that prevent the good from manifesting itself, there are a few human beings…
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Helmuth James Graf von Moltke
I sometimes express skepticism about the value of the study of history. If history has lessons, they don't seem applicable to the present in any useful way. But there is no denying that history is a rich source of exemplary lives. These exemplary lives show what is humanly possible and furnish existential ideals. Helmuth James…
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Reading Now: Alfred Delp, S. J., Prison Writings
From Thomas Merton's October 1962 introduction: These are the thoughts of a man who, caught in a well-laid trap of political lies, clung desperately to a truth that was revealed to him in solitude, helplessness, emptiness, and desperation. Face to face with inescapable physical death, he reached out in anguish for the truth without which…
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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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David Stove Pays Tribute to David Armstrong and Comments on the Malignancy of the Left
Excerpt: But, while David has never aspired to put the world right by philosophy, the world for its part has not been equally willing to let him and philosophy alone in return. Quite the reverse. His tenure of the Chair turned out to coincide with an enormous attack on philosophy, and on humanistic learning in…
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On Roderick Chisholm
It was my good fortune to be a participant in Roderick Chisholm's National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar at Brown University in 1981. My summer digs were in Boston in those days and I would drive the old VW bus down Interstate 95 three times a week to Providence. Here you will find a…
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Charles Krauthammer (1950 – 2018)
I cited him often over the years and disagreed with him only once. I admired his penetrating intellect, but more importantly his good judgment. In his personal life he was a profile in courage. He was a major contributor to the high quality of Fox commentary. On the debit side, he was perhaps too much…
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From Peralta to First Water: A Tribute to Lloyd Glaus
This morning I received the news that my neighbor and fellow hiker Lloyd Glaus had died. What follows is a redacted entry from an earlier pre-Typepad version of this weblog in which I reported on a memorable trans-Superstition hike we took together over ten years ago, on 29 October 2007, when Lloyd was 75 years…
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Julien Combray
This just in from Julien Combray who writes in reference to How Cold Is It? So cold that exhibitionists were actually describing themselves! Thanks for your mix of commentary, Bill. Your cogent thinking on a range of topics has served me well for a number of years. Happy New Year to you! Amor Fati! Sincerely,…
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Maximilian Kolbe
Although it is a deep and dangerous illusion of the Left to suppose that man is inherently good and that it is merely such contingent and remediable factors as environment, opportunity, upbringing and the like that prevent the good from manifesting itself, there are a few human beings who are nearly angelic in their goodness. …
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Nat Hentoff, Defender of Human Life (1925-2017)
I have been a fan of Nat Hentoff ever since I first read him in the pages of Down Beat magazine way back in the '60s. He died at 91 on January 7th. My tribute to him is a repost from 4 June 2012: A Prime Instance of Political Correctness: The Blackballing of Nat Hentoff…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Space Tunes in Honor of John Glenn
The third American in outer space, and the first to orbit the earth, John Glenn passed away the other day at 95. So I raise my glass this Saturday night in salute of a great American hero. 1960's psychedelia explored inner space, but there were a few songs from the '60s about outer space themes. …
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He Was a Friend of Mine
John F. Kennedy was assassinated 53 years ago today. Here is The Byrds' tribute to the slain leader. They took a traditional song and redid the lyrics. Here Willie Nelson does a great job with the traditional song. You Dylan aficionados will want to give a listen to young Bob's rendition of the old song. I…