In ‘What I Believe,’ an essay whose content–selectively quoted–was instrumental in him having his appointment at the City College of New York revoked¹, Bertrand Russell wrote: One other respect in which our society suffers from the theological conception of ‘sin’ is the treatment of criminals. The view that criminals are ‘wicked’ and ‘deserve’ punishment isContinue reading “Bertrand Russell On Deterrence By Making ‘Freedom More Pleasant’”
Tag Archives: John Dewey
Straight Trippin’: Sartre, Mescaline, Nausea, Crabs
In a previous post, I had wondered whether Jean-Paul Sartre‘s description of Roquentin’s ‘vision in the park’ in Nausea was an indication of psychedelic experiences in Sartre’s past:
John Dewey On The ‘Wonder’ Of Communication
In Experience and Nature (Chapter Five, ‘Nature, Communication and Meaning’) John Dewey writes: Of all affairs, communication is the most wonderful….[its] fruit…participation, sharing, is a wonder by the side of which transubstantiation pales. When communication occurs, all natural events are subject to reconsideration and revision; they are re-adapted to meet the requirements of conversation, whether it beContinue reading “John Dewey On The ‘Wonder’ Of Communication”
‘Nausea’ And Psychedelia: Was Antoine Roquentin Tripping?
My re-reading of Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre‘s existentialist classic, for this semester’s independent study on existentialism has now prompted me to blog on it two days in a row. Today, I find myself returning to a question which I had first considered a couple of decades ago during my first reading of Nausea: Was Antoine RoquentinContinue reading “‘Nausea’ And Psychedelia: Was Antoine Roquentin Tripping?”
Contra Damon Linker, ‘Leftist Intellectuals’ Are Not ‘Disconnected From Reality’
Over at The Week, Damon Linker accuses ‘the Left’ of being disconnected from reality, basing this charge on his reading of two recent pieces by Corey Robin and Jedediah Purdy. (It begins with a charge that is all too frequently leveled at the Bernie Sanders campaign: that its political plans are political fantasies.) What getsContinue reading “Contra Damon Linker, ‘Leftist Intellectuals’ Are Not ‘Disconnected From Reality’”
The Renewability of Cricket
My latest post at The Cordon at ESPN-Cricinfo is titled ‘The Renewability of Cricket‘. Here is an excerpt: I want to suggest here that “we, as players and spectators” have a great deal to do with the perceived complexity of cricket. Quite simply, this is because we change over time; we do not bring, toContinue reading “The Renewability of Cricket”
The Fallacious Knowing-How, Knowing-That Distinction
Over at the Stone, Jason Stanley offers some thoughtful remarks on the fallacious distinction between the practical and the theoretical, or rather, between practical and theoretical knowledge. Stanley examines the case to be made for the dichotomy between reflection–‘guided by our knowledge of truths about the world’–and action–‘guided by our knowledge of how to performContinue reading “The Fallacious Knowing-How, Knowing-That Distinction”
Samir Chopra 