Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge philosophy geek. I love grappling with the questions and seeing what other people think about the questions. Some of it is really literary. It can be a thrilling read. But I also think of philosophy as a practical endeavor. I think it’s important to know why…
There are three common bases for moral reasoning that drive me crazy: capacities, rights, and essences. They bug me because they don’t, and can’t, work even though they dominate the popular discourse. They are different in most ways, but I believe their appeal is what they have in common. I will look at each one…
There are three common bases for moral reasoning that drive me crazy: capacities, rights, and essences. They bug me because they don’t, and can’t, work even though they dominate the popular discourse. They are different in most ways, but I believe their appeal is what they have in common. I will look at each one…
There are three common bases for moral reasoning that drive me crazy: capacities, rights, and essences. They bug me because they don’t, and can’t, work even though they dominate the popular discourse. They are different in most ways, but I believe their appeal is what they have in common. I will look at each one…
It’s rare, very rare, that I read something and simply agree with it. Even if I agree with the main idea, I find issues with the details. Sometimes it’s an exceptional case. Sometimes it’s a metaphor stretched too far. That’s part of what I enjoy about reading. It challenges me. It forces me to see…
I’m going to take my first driving lesson with a friend today. I’ve made a lot of excuses about why I’m 35 years old and don’t have a driver’s license, but the truth is that I’m afraid of driving. I was in several car accidents when I was a kid, and my mother almost died…
When I was in college studying philosophy, there was a lot of hand-wringing about how exclusive the discipline was. There was a noticeable lack of women and people of non-European descent. (Today we would add a lack of LGBTQA+ people, but it was the early nineties and that didn’t seem to concern anyone as much…
The first time I tried to play Monster Hunter was all the way back in 2010 with a demo for Monster Hunter Tri. I booted up the game and was transported to a fantasy world of vast, wild environments and epic creatures roaming freely. I remember running in an open field and coming across a…
I recently wrote a three part mini-series. Part one was on the self. Part two was on knowing other people. Part three was on Santa Claus. The connecting thread was the fact that these are three things that are experienced, but it is unclear (to say the least) in what sense they are real. I…
This is part three of my three part mini-series. Part one appeared two days ago and part two yesterday. They are separate, but linked, at least in my mind. Is Santa Claus real? That’s a question I had to deal with directly this year. I guess it’s something of a right of passage for parents…
