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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Houellebecq I read his Platform first, which involves sex tourism and starts something like Camus' The Stranger. ...

All I intended was a rough generalization. I was thinking of others like myself, married but childless. I have more time for books, music, hobbies. I'...

I relate to your grim vision. But creating more people is creating genuine work. People love their children. They will work for and even die for their...

You might find Derrida's treatment of Saussure fascinating on this issue. The concept of the sign itself breaks down upon close examination. It's one ...

The parable shows what's wrong with the common-sense paradigm. Wittgenstein is trying to show the fly the way out of the bottle. Basically the interna...

Not so. Consider some of the German philosophers from Hegel on. In particular, consider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Essence_of_Christianity htt...

This seems useful here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism We can narrow this insight to just language. How much trust is built in to our asking...

I hope this thread continues. It's good stuff. In the meantime, here's James. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism

I think we can be more radical and forget the beetle. Even if we have a strong intuitive sense of 'the same beetle,' all that reality matters is the s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x86hLtOkou8 To me that's a radical misreading. The sign functions independently of what's in the box. That word 'beetl...

I think you'll like this quote if you haven't seen it. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/1818/inaugural.htm Note the triumphant o...

Others have made excellent points already. The main idea is that thought is external-social-alien and not internal-private-familiar. Or (at least) tha...

Indeed, that's what I had in mind. Also Derrida's related take: http://lab404.com/misc/ltdinc.pdf What all the 'private spiritual substance' perspecti...

I've been reading this article on Yorck (which is generally great) and stumbled upon something that seems relevant to the OP. Since Yorck influenced H...

Here is maybe the most famous of the metaphysical texts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_the_Science_of_Knowledge This article looks good...

I agree. Heidegger had a good reasons for inventing his jargon. I especially like the young Heidegger, https://www.scribd.com/doc/93511246/Van-Buren-T...

I can't remember how much Durant goes into it, but he does end the book with American pragmatism. To me it seems that the professionalization of philo...

Not long ago I picked up another copy of one of my first philosophy books, The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. It's still a great book. I mention ...

To be clear, I understand that we have some vague notion of genuine explanation. I think that if we analyze that concept, it cashes out in prediction-...

Great video, and I love Camus and his attitude. I recovered recently from what was probably COVID-19. Since I wasn't hospitalized or rich, I didn't ge...

That's how I understand it, too. This reminded me of the quotes from the Dilthey/Yorck letters that Heidegger used in the intro of the first draft of ...

I think you are missing the big picture. At some points lots of thinkers abandoned theological curiosities and looked toward worldly power. Let's make...

'I think I can safely say that no­body un­der­stands quan­tum me­chan­ics.' (Feynman) http://www.eng.fsu.edu/~dommelen/quantum/style_a/botline.html Wh...

I agree that we have some vague higher notion of genuine explanation. But to me this is a kind of itch that is never actually scratched or scratch-abl...

I think atheists are typically denying a vague but typical image of God. It's like not believing that Mr. X has money in the bank. It's not a particul...

Awesome. I've read that recently and thought it was great. Even if that's true (I can't say), humans do apply the scientific method to the human mind....

I've read and enjoyed some Fichte. I'm more interested in the spiritual guts of his theory than the metaphysical justifications. In Fichte and Hegel I...

I agree. The whole game of feminine/masculine is a mess. But I try to meet others in terms of how I think they are playing the game.

I can't see us as ultimately separate and distinct. To me the self as a concept depends on a community, and the reverse. To be human is to be social, ...

I relate to this, though I prefer 'language' to 'mind.' The isolated subject is a problematic concept, although useful for certain purposes. Philosoph...

Braver wrote a great historical exposition of anti-realism. He also did a book on the intersection of Wittgenstein and Heidegger, Groundless Grounds. ...

Responding to your OP, I'd just recommend not taking words too seriously. I mean don't assume that they correspond to essences or concepts in some con...

Let's make this more concrete. A stranger tells me that he has millions in the bank. He just needs a little money (due to absurd circumstances) in the...

I'd say make this more concrete and personal. I'm in the US. The government is shitty, but I can imagine a far shittier situation in which a shitty go...

Doesn't this open up the old can of worms? The brain in this case is just one more part of the simulation. The 'subject' is one more piece of the 'obj...

Just curious: do you like Lee Braver? I've really enjoyed a couple of his books.

I agree, and that's one of the tricky things about criticizing philosophy. To do it well, one has to read oneself into the tradition. But this costs t...

I agree that there's a sloppiness in Rorty. I don't know the analytic tradition well. I have looked into the empiricists, and even they strike me as a...

I thought Rorty was pretty radical. Reading him and the pragmatists he led me to especially informed my anti-philosophical leanings. I ended up not ma...

If something shrinks more and more slowly, it can continue to shrink without ever vanishing. This is an informal description of something that can be ...

Is pragmatism still philosophy? Rorty was mentioned, but we can go back to James. Is Nietzsche still a philosopher? It's my impression that philosophy...

I just want to add/emphasize that perhaps men are using 'feminine' power, the power of spectacle. Perhaps even Trump is using feminine power. Pelosi w...

This is an interesting but also dangerous thought. The idea that men and women are essentially (spiritually/intellectually) different was/is perhaps t...

I agree that it's no longer rebellious to be irreligious. I'd say that the dominant religion has simply changed. It's all on the front page of the cul...

Hi. This is the kind of question I was answering. My answer addressed only one conception of religion. Personally I find religion to be symbolically t...

In a word: power. And that means prediction and control. We care about what can help or harm us. Feed the hungry. Foil the tyrant. Heal the sick. To a...

I suggest replacing 'mental' with 'social.' If we are talking about reality, than our talk is indeed presupposed in our talking about reality. Yet we ...

I agree that nature-as-machine is a dominant metaphor, but this metaphor is as much shovel as lens. We haven't only changed our way of looking at the ...

I suggest that we tend to use 'real' for what we have to take seriously. Or for what is worth acting on. It's all tied in with care. We are constantly...

How about science as the theory of technology that works whether or not one believes in it? And this involves the physical as that which is indifferen...