Tag Archives: logical positivism

Iris Murdoch: Bringing Philosophy to Life

Iris Murdoch: Bringing Philosophy to Life When Jerry and I fly to California for another round of my neuropathy treatments, we each bring something to read en route.  Obviously our selections have to be in paperback and short.  Since I’d … Continue reading

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Philosophical Women: the Pathbreakers

Philosophical Women: the Pathbreakers The Women are Up to Something is a book title lifted from a remark made by a male philosopher who anticipated trouble from one of the women philosophers at Oxford.  The occasion at which the trouble … Continue reading

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Philosophy and Philosophy

Philosophy and Philosophy In recent months, I’ve been reading books that — if I weave them together — bestow overviews of two major branches of philosophy: Analytic Philosophy and Continental Philosophy.  They have dominated the field for the last hundred … Continue reading

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How to Be Modern

How to Be Modern I’ve never understood why people wanted to be modern in the first place.  Okay, the dentistry is an improvement.  I’ll give you that. On the other hand, Victorian people (as in the novels of Dickens) seemed … Continue reading

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Good Philosophy Gets You to the Bathroom in Time

Good Philosophy Gets You to the Bathroom in Time In 1988, the atheist philosopher A. J. Ayer published an article for Britain’s widely read Sunday Telegraph, titled, “What I Saw When I Was Dead.” In the atheist circles in which … Continue reading

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Do Miracles Happen?

Do Miracles Happen? Occasionally something occurs that you or I might be tempted to call “a miracle.” But: what follows when you try to talk about a “miracle” that you think might have happened to you?  Despite the Establishment Clause … Continue reading

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“Where Are We Now?”

“Where Are We Now?” Since my last column, I’ve been preoccupied with the long-shot nomination of me, by a kind colleague, to give the John Dewey lecture at the American Philosophical Association. That’s the lecture underscoring the link between the … Continue reading

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