philosophy
-
Out 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…
-
Judith 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…
-
Livestock 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…
-
Time 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…
-
Who 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…