Tag Archives: skepticism

A Steeper Cliff

A Steeper Cliff  The escarpment of Sunday loomed as one of life’s steeper cliffs. At 10:00 a.m. that morning, Jerry was scheduled to give a talk about his book, God: An Autobiography as told to a philosopher. By now he’s … Continue reading

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Getting to Objectivity

Getting to Objectivity Lately I’ve been reading a book titled What is Fiction For? The British philosopher Bernard Harrison wrote it to defend novels – defend writing them and reading them – from the accusation that they don’t tell the … Continue reading

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, chivalry, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, immortality, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, scientism, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Are the Stories We Live True?

Are the Stories We Live True? Good people try to live the sorts of stories that will solve the problems of their lives as reasonably and realistically as they can. Meanwhile, evil people aim to mess up good people’s stories. … Continue reading

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Should the Dead Know Their Place?

Should the Dead Know Their Place? What are the dead up to? Are they just nonexistent? Many philosophers believe that and most would rather be annihilated than wrong. Are they sleeping? After the great bloodbath of the American Civil War, … Continue reading

Posted in academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, nineteenth-century, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, seduction, self-deception, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Final Proofs

Final Proofs This week, amid a flurry of barely-caught typos, fonts of the wrong shade and misplaced style cues, Jerry, I, and his priceless crew of teammates finished going over the final set of proofs that go to the printer. … Continue reading

Posted in action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, faith, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, mortality, non-violence, ontology, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Living in History”

“Living in History”  That’s a theme of mine, though it’s easier to give the theme a name than to say exactly what it means. I can hone in on it by at least by saying what it’s not. If you … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, chivalry, Christianity, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, mysticism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Meta-Narratives”

“Meta-Narratives”  There is a French post-modern philosopher who writes, “I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.” By that is meant, there is no large story – no history of humanity as such – into which our private stories, the novellas … Continue reading

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