From Notebook of a Return To My Native Land: For it is not true that the work of man is finished, That we have nothing more to do in the world, That we are just parasites in this world, That it is enough for us to walk in step with the world, For the work ofContinue reading “Aimé Césaire’s Immortal, Eminently Quotable Line”
Category Archives: Books
Miguel De Unamuno: Conservative War-Lover?
My philosophical education, just like everyone else’s, is far from complete, and of course, never shall be. One omission from my readings has been the work of Miguel De Unamuno, whose The Tragic Sense of Life has been adorning my bookshelves for some twenty years now. Recently, I set out to clean up some shelf spaceContinue reading “Miguel De Unamuno: Conservative War-Lover?”
Karl Steel on the Fallacious Animal-Human Distinction
Who is human? What is distinctively human? Answering this fairly intractable question of demarcation–one that students in philosophy of biology can see peeking around the corner at them when they tackle the subject of whether species exist– can often–if not always–involve defining and articulating the non-human. One particularly well-established tradition of such attempts has beenContinue reading “Karl Steel on the Fallacious Animal-Human Distinction”
Karl Popper’s Undistinguished Take on Existentialism
In Chapter 18 ‘Utopia and Violence’, of Conjectures and Refutations, Karl Popper writes: We can see here that the problem of the true and the false rationalisms [Utopianism] is part of a larger problem. Ultimately it is the problem of a sane attitude towards our own existence and its limitations–that very problem of which so muchContinue reading “Karl Popper’s Undistinguished Take on Existentialism”
Writing Away From Home
I am writing today’s post in a coffee shop. This fact would not be so interesting were it not for the fact that I am often tempted to do so, but almost never do. Today, circumstances compel me to write away from home and so, here I am. But writing at venues other than myContinue reading “Writing Away From Home”
Regulation, Social Norming and Tocqueville’s ‘Majority’
There is a well-known model of behavior modification, a taxonomy of sorts of regulatory mechanisms, due to Lawrence Lessig, which lists four modalities of regulation: the law, the market, social norms and architecture. The law provides punitive sanctions, actively restrains by making visible its power, and points in the desired direction; the market provides economicContinue reading “Regulation, Social Norming and Tocqueville’s ‘Majority’”
Arendt, the Problem of ‘The Absolute’ and Revolutionary Fascination by Antiquity
There are many, many remarkable passages in Hannah Arendt‘s On Revolution, which forms part of my reading list for this fall semester’s Political Philosophy seminar. In particular, there is a profusion of them in Chapter 5, ‘Novus Ordo Saeclorum’. Here Arendt offers an analysis of the problem of legitimacy of post-revolutionary government i.e., the problemContinue reading “Arendt, the Problem of ‘The Absolute’ and Revolutionary Fascination by Antiquity”
Corporal Punishment and the Arrested Development of the ‘Adult’
In the past couple of weeks, I have quoted at length from Erik Erikson‘s Young Man Luther. First, to draw an analogy between the development stages of humans and nations via the notion of an identity crisis, and then, to point to perhaps a similarly analogical relationship between indoctrination and addiction recovery. Today, I wantContinue reading “Corporal Punishment and the Arrested Development of the ‘Adult’”
Indoctrination and Recovery from Addiction
Today at lunch, a conversation about the difficulties of quitting smoking cigarettes and of persuading smokers to quit, about possible strategies for inducing smokers to leave their habit behind, and so on led quite naturally to a discussion about the nature of addiction and so-called ‘addictive personalities’ (and subsequently, a discussion of why some strategiesContinue reading “Indoctrination and Recovery from Addiction”
A Nation in Identity Crisis?
Just for kicks, I thought it might be interesting, on the day after the 2012 election, to think of the US as a nation undergoing an adolescent identity crisis. I do this in response to some post-election commentary that seems to suggest the demographic shift in the US has engendered one, forcing political parties acrossContinue reading “A Nation in Identity Crisis?”
Samir Chopra 