The Rumpus Interview with Jennifer Michael Hecht
Poet, historian, and philosopher Jennifer Michael Hecht talks about Thomas Aquinas, Robin Williams, and her most recent book, Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It.
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Posts Tagged: philosophy
The Rumpus Interview with Astra Taylor
Driven by philosophical thought, Astra Taylor—documentary filmmaker, activist, and writer—looks at the way the Internet has affected social and economic change in her new book, The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age.
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The Rumpus Interview with Lars Iyer
If Laurel and Hardy stumbled into Mike Leigh’s Naked, the result might resemble writer and philosophy lecturer Lars Iyer’s novels.
...moreExistential Ménage-à-Trois
Andy Martin, author of The Boxer and the Goalkeeper, writes about the woman called Wanda who ended the “bromance” between Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. “Camus was the new kid on the block, confronted by the great metropolitan circle of critics and publishers and philosophers around Sartre – and yet he could score over the master with […]
...moreSaturday History Lesson: Flannery O’Connor and Betty Hester
Most people writing to their favorite authors do not, I’d guess, think they will get an answer back, and perhaps Betty Hester didn’t either.
...moreWho and What is Happy?
Science and philosophy are the academic parents of the social sciences, which is interesting considering the current obsession with happiness. There’s always an updated study on what (or what doesn’t) make human beings happy, from the psychological/sociological perspective, always backed up with empirical evidence. Often this mass of data is broken down for mass consumption […]
...morePhilosophy in Shapes
The project Philographics creates a series of posters “explaining complex philosophical theories through basic shapes.” This piece enlarges some of the posters, so that you can read the brief description while eyeing the graphic of concepts such as relativism, hedonism, solipsism, and more. Peruse the collection if you’re looking to refresh your understanding of Western […]
...moreOn Thoughts, Facts, and Slogans
Noah Cicero discusses the three kinds of language, why Nietzsche never resolved anything, and why it’s good to debate slowly. Very slowly.
...moreThe Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #27: Chris Graham in Conversation with Aaron Wendland
Aaron Wendland is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, where he works on Heidegger and reads widely in the history of philosophy. Originally from Canada, Aaron brought over 1,000 philosophy books to Oxford, which he organizes by height, color, publisher, theme, and alphabet, “so far as all of this is possible.” […]
...moreOut Of Ugliness Comes Great Things
“I can’t help wondering if ugliness is not indispensable to philosophy. Sartre seems to be suggesting that thinking — serious, sustained questioning — arises out of, or perhaps with, a consciousness of one’s own ugliness.” In a recent installment of the New York Time’s philosophy column The Stone, Andy Martin ponders the ugliness of Jean-Paul […]
...moreJudith Butler At Guernica
“All I really have to say about life is that for it to be regarded as valuable, it has to first be regarded as grievable. A life that is in some sense socially dead or already ‘lost’ cannot be grieved when it is actually destroyed. And I think we can see that entire populations are […]
...moreLivestock Without Pain
There’s an editorial on New Scientist reacting to a recently-published paper by a philosopher named Adam Shriver, in which he calls for the genetic modification of livestock animals so that they feel no pain. “I’m offering a solution where you could still eat meat but avoid animal suffering,” Shriver says. Does this seem a little nutty […]
...moreTime is Real!
Not too long ago I reviewed a movie called The Examined Life, by director Astra Taylor, which featured ninety minutes of fascinating, exhilarating discussions with eight contemporary philosophers. The film left me hungry for more, and recently The New Press answered my wish by releasing a book of full transcripts of Taylor’s interviews with Cornell […]
...moreWho Needs Philosophy?
Back when I was a little boy, living in a yellow stucco house in San Diego, I would sit in the hot tub at night, under desert-clear stars, listen to the coyotes howl and ask my Dad about those dead ancient Greek guys who only had first names: Aristotle, Socrates, Plato. He didn’t know why […]
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