Drugs and Libertarianism
Posted on June 29, 2009
Filed Under Philosophy, Politics | 5 Comments
I’m no Libertarian. (I’m for small but vigorously enforced regulations and don’t entirely buy the “there are no positive rights” argument) That said I’ve long thought the Libertarian argument against the drug war was compelling. Even conservative thinkers like William F. Buckley were convinced. Megan McArdle has up an interesting post in light of Michael Jackson’s overdose of demerol.
More >>>
Tech Blogging
Posted on June 15, 2009
Filed Under Blog, Tech | Leave a Comment
We got some huge contracts at work that probably will keep me busy for the next few months. I’ll still be blogging here but don’t really have the time to dedicate to thinking through philosophy. So posting will be erratic. (Subscribe via rss to see when I post)
I do have a more technologically oriented blog I’ll probably blog a bit at as well. That’ll be more busy.
God, Dasein and Omniscience
Posted on June 12, 2009
Filed Under Derrida, Heidegger, Religion | 8 Comments
It’s interesting to ask, in a Heideggarian context, what God’s knowledge consists of. That is when we ask about God’s knowledge we are asking in the traditional philosophical context of a way of knowing best called theoretic knowledge. (That is representational) I think Heidegger argues persuasively that this sort of knowledge is only possible against a background of already engaged in practices. Further that this present-at-hand knowledge is possible only against the breakdown of such practices.
For a divine being like God what does that say about his knowledge?
More >>>
Anti-Science in the Left
Posted on June 11, 2009
Filed Under Politics, Science | 10 Comments
I’ve been a big critic of some of the ridiculous anti-science stuff that folks on the right have done. Especially some of the actions by the Bush administration (which sometimes have been egregiously politically opportunistic and other times outright anti-science). However now that Democrats are in power we’re getting that side’s anti-science. Something all the anti-Republican rhetoric of the last 8 years tended to miss.
More >>>
PhilPapers
Posted on June 4, 2009
Filed Under Philosophy, Tech | 2 Comments
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but if you haven’t used it try out PhilPapers. It’s basically trying to do for philosophy what arxiv did for physics papers years ago. For various reasons primarily, I suspect, tied to the nature of journals in the humanities, the humanities have been far slower to accept the change to open access papers.
PhilPapers started out a bit rough but was much better than some of the repositories with a narrower focus. (Such as Phil Sci archive from the University of Pittsburgh) Anyway I still primarily go to JSTOR first for article searches. But I’m slowly converting over. Note that PhilPapers also has a staggering number of classic papers, including some from the 19th century.
Why Heidegger?
Posted on June 3, 2009
Filed Under Heidegger, Philosophy | 5 Comments
OK, yes, still very busy. (I’m holding down the fort here at work alone which is a tad overwhelming) I thought I’d address a shorter question. Why do I find Heidegger interesting now? I have to admit that what I once studied 10 or even 5 years ago just isn’t what I’m interested in. Once I tended to study the bigger issues of transcendence and Being. While I still touch on those issues they tend to be complex and subtle. (When I return to a topic in these areas I find I have to check out my crib notes as often as not) So why is Heidegger practically relevant?
Recurring Nightmare
Posted on May 27, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized | 11 Comments
OK this xkcd comic struck too close to home. I’ve been out of school for years and I still have this nightmare…
Responsibility & Open Theism
Posted on May 26, 2009
Filed Under Philosophy, Religion | 18 Comments
I’m obviously just not finding the time to write (or read) the way I would like. So my apologies. I think that rather than attempting to write “big” posts I’ll just do some more thoughtful questioning the next few weeks. So take these as they are. More the raising of questions than summarizing a position.
First up is a question that came to me as I read an LDS-Herm discussion. (I’ve been too busy to contribute much there either) Someone noted that responsibility for many Continental styled thinkers isn’t thought in terms of an autonomous and independent agent to whom we attribute blame or praise. That’s the way we’ve tended to think about responsibility ever since the Enlightenment. However the Continental approach is closer to the call of a demand.
More >>>
Mormons, Origins and Heidegger
Posted on May 20, 2009
Filed Under Heidegger, Religion | 12 Comments
Yes, I know I’m way behind in posting. You’ll have to forgive me as life has been far busier than expected. I found something some of you might enjoy. This is from a review of The Philosophy of Edith Stein that Enowning linked to.
Calcagno explains that Stein’s objection with Heidegger’s use of the term Dasein (human being, humankind, being-in-the-world) is that he associates the essence of being as existence, a definition formerly ascribed to God, thereby destroying the metaleptic reality.
Posner on the Conservative Movement
Posted on May 14, 2009
Filed Under Politics | 22 Comments
Posner has a great post on the conservative movement:
“My theme is the intellectual decline of conservatism, and it is notable that the policies of the new conservatism are powered largely by emotion and religion and have for the most part weak intellectual groundings.”
Utah Republicans Becoming Liberal
Posted on May 14, 2009
Filed Under Politics | 11 Comments
Slate has up an interesting article on how “the most Republican state in the nation is drifting to the left.” I think this misleading for two reasons. For one it makes the classic error of assuming there is only one political axis. Huntsman, for instance, is very much in the libertarian wing of the GOP. Which explains his opposition for the classic canards of social conservatives. He may morally agree on the issues but think that government is not the appropriate tool to attack moral issues. (I tend to agree with Huntsman for the most part here – and think he’s been a pretty solid governor although I’d like him to promote his messages to the public more)
Faith vs. Charity in LDS Films
Posted on May 14, 2009
Filed Under Religion | 4 Comments
There’s an interesting discussion at the Deseret News of Joe Spencer’s paper from the “Mormon Scholars in the Humanities” conference. The key point of Joe’s critique is that most of the films in the recent LDS film movement in trying to present transcendence end up depicting faith and charity as at odds. Joe particularly points to Dutcher’s God’s Army 2.
Grace II
Posted on May 11, 2009
Filed Under Philosophy | 5 Comments
OK, sorry for the delay. We’re renovating our factory. So everything is taking three times as long to do while painting is going on.
Last time I introduced the topic of Grace in terms of a secular Grace. The basic idea is that of grace as an undeserved grace. (I’ll try to keep the two concepts separate by capitalizing Grace from God versus a secular grace) My own view is that grace is “essentially” that which exceeds any system and its abilities and erupts into the system thereby expanding it.
Kindle
Posted on May 7, 2009
Filed Under Tech | 7 Comments
There’s a really interesting post on Kindle market penetration. “On Amazon.com, 35 percent of sales of books that have a Kindle edition are sold in that format. That’s up, by the way, from 13 percent in February…” Wow.
Paradox of the Religiously Unaffiliated
Posted on May 2, 2009
Filed Under Religion | 5 Comments
Gene Expression has an interesting post on the unaffiliated “About half of those raised with no religion affiliate with a religion as an adulthood.” The rise of atheism or the unreligious has been the main focus. I personally was surprised at how many raised in non-religious homes become religious. Even if this wasn’t new (and perhaps I had read about this in the 90’s) it’s still a bit of a shock to me. Although I guess I should have known better. Even on my LDS mission we had many converts from non-religious or low-religious households.
Keep Looking →
Quote of the Moment
Search
Recent Comments
- Clark in Drugs and Libertarianism
- Clark in Drugs and Libertarianism
- Ben Pratt in Drugs and Libertarianism
- Mommie Dearest in Drugs and Libertarianism
- Mark D. in Drugs and Libertarianism
- Clark in God, Dasein and Omniscience
- Michael Dorfman… in God, Dasein and Omniscience
- Michael Dorfman… in God, Dasein and Omniscience
- Clark in God, Dasein and Omniscience
- Morris in Mormons Worse at Believing Evolutio…
Recent Posts
- Drugs and Libertarianism
- Tech Blogging
- God, Dasein and Omniscience
- Anti-Science in the Left
- PhilPapers
- Why Heidegger?
- Recurring Nightmare
- Responsibility & Open Theism