Nietzsche claims that the “supreme principle of education” is that “one should only offer food to him who hungers for it.” That is, roughly, teaching should be guided not by the requirements of an abstract, generalized curriculum, but by the expressed needs of the learner. In keeping with Nietzsche’s generalized aristocratic and hierarchical sensibilities, educationContinue reading “Nietzsche’s ‘Supreme Principle of Education’”
Category Archives: Psychology
Nietzsche’s Six Methods For Combating Facebook Distraction
Nietzsche has something to say about everything. Including Facebook Distraction, an ‘impulse’ whose ‘vehemence’ we seek to combat, and for which he has found ‘not more than six essentially different methods.’ (‘The Dawn of Day‘, trans. JM Kennedy, Allen Unwin, 1924, Section 109)
The Words We Mutter Under Our Breath
Some years ago, as I waited to be served food by a prickly employee of an eating establishment, I sensed my temper flaring. She and I had had run-ins before; she had always seemed unnecessarily querulous and brusque in her interactions with me; the milk of human kindness seemed to have curdled long ago inContinue reading “The Words We Mutter Under Our Breath”
Black Mirror’s Third Season Nosedives In The First Episode
Black Mirror used to be the real deal: a television show that brought us clever, scary satire about the brave new dystopic, over-technologized world that we are already living in. It was creepy; it was brutal in its exposure of human frailty in the face of technology’s encroachment on our sense of self and ourContinue reading “Black Mirror’s Third Season Nosedives In The First Episode”
Peter Thiel Should Attempt the Anatomically Impossible
A few years ago, I made note of Peter Thiel’s showboating program to give young folks a cool hundred grand if they dropped out of college to pursue their dreams. This scheme, cooked up by a Stanford graduate, a venture capitalist and hedge-fund manager, was in transparent alignment with various neoliberal schemes cooked up to denigrateContinue reading “Peter Thiel Should Attempt the Anatomically Impossible”
Donald Trump’s ‘Hot-Mic’ And Men Talking About Sex
A friend offers the following reaction to the latest ‘sensational’ disclosures about Donald Trump’s misogyny: To all the guys on my feed posting their shock and outrage over Trump’s hot-mic comments about women: give me a break. “How could America possibly elect someone who talks like this about women??” you ask. Do you honestly thinkContinue reading “Donald Trump’s ‘Hot-Mic’ And Men Talking About Sex”
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”
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”
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”
Samir Chopra 