Book Review: Ripstein’s Force and Freedom

A review of Ripstein’s book on Kant’s political philosophy by Stefan Bird-Pollan: Though Kant has been enjoying significant critical attention in moral and political philosophy since Rawls published A Theory of Justice almost 40 years ago, Kant’s ideas have only rarely been defended as a whole. The chief problem with Kant’s view, one which Rawls shared [...]

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New Directions in Critical Theory series

Interesting new series from Columbia Press: New Directions in Critical Theory Amy Allen, General Editor New Directions in Critical Theory presents outstanding classic and contemporary texts in the tradition of critical social theory, broadly construed. The series aims to renew and advance the program of critical social theory, with a particular focus on theorizing contemporary [...]

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John Blum

Unspeakably beautiful…

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Performed by Anyone on Anything

What would be a philosophical equivalent of John Cage’s 4’33”?

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Pierre Boulez Turns 85

UPDATE: Nice piece on Boulez in LA Times. Boulez turns 85. I could go for a whole day Boulez program, but I’m fearing I won’t be able to do much (and my attention span is too short for such a monumental feat), so maybe just a little bit here and there.

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Profound Statements Not Made By Me: Tree Falling (Yet Again)

Me: So this is a sort of a sophisticated version of the “tree falling in the forest” riddle? Not-Me: [Quizzical Expression on Face] M: You know – “If a tree fall in the forrest and there is no one there to hear it fall, does it make a sound?” N: You serious? M: Quite. Well, [...]

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Orpheus Musings (I)

Having solved a puzzle this morning – concerning Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini’s production of L’Euridice in 1600 – I started to wonder how many operas since then were based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice and the wonderful internets gave me an answer in the form of this page. Now all I have [...]

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Infinity…

I think that I really like the notion that in an infinite universe it follows that right now at this moment there are an infinite number of copies of you, along with your sense of humor, memories etc., out there reading this very post. Watch this interesting clip from the BBC: You can watch the [...]

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Philosophers-Composers

As much as these sorts of topics smack of Graham Harman sensibility (“Philosophers Who Were Also Lovers of Tea: The List” or “The Most Underrated Philosopher of Lower Bavaria” etc etc), I was listening to some music by Nietzsche (info below) and it occurred to me that I know of several philosophers who also happened [...]

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Acknowledgements Exemplar

Not acknowledgements, but a simple acknowledgement – basically it’s a “thank you for not being hung up on my English and letting me get to the subject matter” sort – I like it.

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