When I posted my memoir essays about growing up and my time in the Jesuits I promised another installment about my life teaching. Working on that essay I realized that it divided naturally, one part covering the events of our life moving from place to place, and the other covering changes in my outlook and …
Two hesitant comments on abortion. Both concern the public policy issue of putting social effort into enforcing prohibitions. First : Around the beginning of the 20th century the effort to outlaw alcoholic beverages had created a patchwork of local options where a county or state could be dry or wet. The local option did not …
Philosophical communication today My Philosophy Salon series on art (at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oregon) featured a guest appearance by Robert Paul Wolff. He led a discussion on art and politics with connections to Herbert Marcuse. We were grateful to Prof. Wolff for his insights and effective teaching presence. Before …
In a recent post I said that people might find my five lectures on American identity useful in our current situation. I remembered feeling very good about those lectures when I delivered them several years ago but I decided to listen to them myself. It was a sobering experience. I think they do offer good …
The second long video on my YouTube channel that I want to highlight concerns Parkinson’s disease. It is titled Stoicism, Parkinson’s, and Me: Philosophy and Chronic Disease shows how Stoic philosophy helps me cope with the disease. This connects to my book A Shaky Walk Downhill. It takes up the question of personal identity somewhat …
Sometime ago I started a YouTube channel and posted a number of videos. I have not posted much there since 2020 because Parkinson’s disease has made it more difficult for me both to appear in and edit videos. But there are two items on the channel I hope people might watch. This post highlights the …
About a week from now the state of Oregon will lift mask mandates. I have been leading a series of zoom discussions about the nature of art for the Osher lifelong learning Institute at the University of Oregon. I’m very curious to see whether or not the Institute fitting out their classrooms for hybrid meetings, …
Comments and Subscriptions As I mentioned in the previous post, we have added spaces for comments on posts, as well as a form on the bottom of blog pages where you can sign up to receive notifications of future postings. Comments will be moderated so may not appear immediately. There is a lot of debate …
We’ve added space for Comments on the blog posts, plus a form so you can Subscribe to receive notices when new posts are added. And I’ve added new posts, including an update on my Parkinson’s disease, some references related to David Chalmers’ book, me and my double on a list, and the first of a …
David Chalmers’ book Reality+, which as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a most thorough discussion of the simulation hypothesis, and also one of the best discussions of skeptical doubts about the reality of the external world. In connection with the book, I thought I would mention two items of my own. One is …