In Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments (University of Stanford Press, Cultural Memory in the Present Series, ed. Gunzelin Schmid Noerr, p. 13, 2002) Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno write: The prevailing antithesis between art and science, which rends the two apart as areas of culture in order to make them jointly manageable as areas of cultures,Continue reading “Horkheimer And Adorno On The ‘Convergence’ Of Art And Science”
Category Archives: Philosophy
On The Dissolution Of A Personal Boundary
One of my favorite pastimes when visiting my in-laws in Ohio is to borrow one of the family cars and head to the local cinema to catch a matinée show; it’s how I catch up on the big-screen action I miss out on here in the Big Apple. The tickets are cheaper; the audiences areContinue reading “On The Dissolution Of A Personal Boundary”
John David Mabbott And Two Influential Paragraphs
In the summer of 1992, I had begun to consider the possibility of returning to graduate school–this time for a new program in study in an unfamiliar field: philosophy. I had no previous academic exposure to philosophy so I would have to begin at the ‘bottom’: by taking classes as a non-matriculate student, and thenContinue reading “John David Mabbott And Two Influential Paragraphs”
The Phenomenology Of Encounters With Notification Icons
It’s 630 AM or so; you’re awake, busy getting your cup of coffee ready. (Perhaps you’re up earlier like the truly virtuous or the overworked, which in our society comes to the same thing.) Your coffee made, you fire up your smartphone, laptop, tablet, or desktop, and settle down for the morning service at theContinue reading “The Phenomenology Of Encounters With Notification Icons”
Justin Caouette On Rational And Emotional Forgiveness
Over at The Philosopher’s Take Justin Caouette wonders if there is a distinction between two kinds of forgiveness, ‘cognitive’ and ‘rational’: Cognitive forgiveness deals with understanding the act that was done to you. So, let’s say your good friend punched you in the face when you walked into his house. After the incident and afterContinue reading “Justin Caouette On Rational And Emotional Forgiveness”
G. H. Hardy On The Supposedly ‘Second-Rate Mind’
In A Mathematician’s Apology G. H. Hardy wrote: It is a melancholy experience for a professional mathematician to find himself writing about mathematics. The function of a mathematician is to do something, to prove new theorems, to add to mathematics, and not to talk about what he or other mathematicians have done. Statesmen despise publicists,Continue reading “G. H. Hardy On The Supposedly ‘Second-Rate Mind’”
Addiction As Particularized Process, Not Isolated Condition
In The Addiction Experience, Stanton Peele writes: Addiction is not caused by a drug or its chemical properties. Addiction has to do with the effect a drug produces for a given person in given circumstances—a welcomed effect which relieves anxiety and which (paradoxically) decreases capability so that those things in life which cause anxiety grow moreContinue reading “Addiction As Particularized Process, Not Isolated Condition”
Talking Kierkegaard With ‘Non-Traditional’ Students
Philosophy being the discipline it is, I often find myself commenting on the identity of my students: it is how I remind those on the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’ that there are possibilities here, not always acknowledged, of ways of thinking about the practice of philosophy, inside and outside the classroom. I offer this vagueContinue reading “Talking Kierkegaard With ‘Non-Traditional’ Students”
The Shock Of The New (Entry On A Class Reading List)
Teaching a new entrant on a class reading list is always a fraught business. It is especially so when the entrant is a well-established member of analogous canons and you have come late to the game. You are dimly aware you’ve ‘neglected a classic,’ and thus rendered your education–in several dimensions–incomplete; you are well awareContinue reading “The Shock Of The New (Entry On A Class Reading List)”
The Supposed Sacral Status Of ‘National’ Symbols
Yesterday, a Facebook friend–in the course of a discussion stemming from my post criticizing David Brooks‘ claim that protests by high school football players a la Colin Kaepernick were ‘counterproductive’–pointed me to the following quote by Saul Alinsky: Even the most elementary grasp of the fundamental idea that one communicates within the experience of hisContinue reading “The Supposed Sacral Status Of ‘National’ Symbols”
Samir Chopra 