For a long time now, perhaps as long as I can remember, letters and numbers have had colors and personalities and aesthetic grades. Here are the ways in which they do, for me: I see colors in vowels. The letter ‘a’ is yellow; ‘e’ is red; ‘i’ is white; ‘o’ is black; ‘u’ is grey.Continue reading “A Synesthesia Of Sorts”
Category Archives: Philosophy
A Persistent Difficulty In Teaching Philosophy Of Law
This semester, I’m teaching Philosophy of Law–again. My syllabus, as always, is a new one, and reflects an altered orientation and focus from those of days past. The current edition is fairly simple: it kicks off with Lon Fuller‘s ‘The Case of the Speluncean Explorers,’ excerpts from H. L. A Hart‘s The Concept of Law,Continue reading “A Persistent Difficulty In Teaching Philosophy Of Law”
Getting The ‘Rorty’ In The ‘Putnam-Rorty Debate’ Wrong
In his essay on Hilary and Ruth Anna Putnam in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Tom Bartlett writes of the ‘famous’ Putnam-Rorty debate as follows: The crux of their dispute centered on how far to take pragmatism. [Richard] Rorty thought that the things we believe to be true aren’t actually connected to reality: There isContinue reading “Getting The ‘Rorty’ In The ‘Putnam-Rorty Debate’ Wrong”
Tesla’s ‘Irma Update’ Shows The Dangers Of Proprietary Software
By now, you know the story. Tesla magically (remotely) updated the software of its cars during Hurricane Irma: Tesla remotely sent a free software update to some drivers across Florida over the weekend, extending the battery capacity of cars and giving extra range to those fleeing Hurricane Irma. According to reports, the update temporarily unlocked the full-batteryContinue reading “Tesla’s ‘Irma Update’ Shows The Dangers Of Proprietary Software”
Political Tactics, Antifa, And Punching Nazis
In response to my post ‘Punching Nazis in the Face and Anti-Antifa Critiques‘ a friend of mine offered some critical responses on Facebook; these responses have offered me an opportunity to try to express my original claims more clearly. My responses are below. (Excerpts from my original post are indented in plain text; my friend’sContinue reading “Political Tactics, Antifa, And Punching Nazis”
Nietzsche As Pragmatist
Nietzsche is a pragmatist with strong resonances with the American pragmatists; this is not a new claim. Renè Berthelot, for instance, termed Nietzsche “a German pragmatist” and emphasized the resemblance between Nietzsche’s perspectivism and the pragmatist theory of truth.[1][2] The resemblance between Nietzsche and the American pragmatists [3] is made especial note of in Arthur Danto‘s NietzscheContinue reading “Nietzsche As Pragmatist”
Punching Nazis In The Face And Anti-Antifa Critiques
A week or so ago, shortly after the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, I asked on my Facebook page: “Is it OK to punch a Nazi in the face? Asking for a Virginian friend.” As might have been expected this semi-serious query sparked an interesting discussion in the course of which one of myContinue reading “Punching Nazis In The Face And Anti-Antifa Critiques”
‘Passing for Pakistani and the Two-Nation Theory’ At Three Quarks Daily
My essay ‘Passing for Pakistani and the Two-Nation Theory‘ is up at Three Quarks Daily.
Fascism And The Irrelevance Of ‘Truth’
Yesterday, a former student wrote to me, asking for clarification on something he had read in an online discussion group: We [Fascists] don’t think ideology is a problem that is resolved in such a way that truth is seated on a throne. But, in that case, does fighting for an ideology mean fighting for mereContinue reading “Fascism And The Irrelevance Of ‘Truth’”
Hannah Arendt On Our Creations’ Independent Lives
In ‘Remarks to the American Society of Christian Ethics’ (Library of Congress MSS Box 70, p. 011828)¹, Hannah Arendt notes, Each time you write something and send it out into the world and it becomes public, obviously everybody is free to do with it what he pleases, and this is as it should be.Continue reading “Hannah Arendt On Our Creations’ Independent Lives”
Samir Chopra 