CFP: Philosophical Investigation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Talmud and Midrash

An interesting CFP: Philosophical Investigation of the  Hebrew Scriptures, Talmud and Midrash The Hebrew Bible occupies an anomalous position on the contemporary academic landscape. The field of biblical studies produces a steady stream of works on the compositional history, philology, and literary character of the biblical texts. But the ideas that find expression in the Hebrew [...]

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Kierkegaard (and the APA)

I read this and couldn’t help but think of this year’s Eastern APA meeting.  However, it’s probably better to be fair and simply substitute ‘academics’ for ‘busy man of affairs.’ Of all the ridiculous things it seems to me the most ridiculous is to be a busy man of affairs, prompt to meals and to [...]

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Advice…

Now here’s some advice that’s actually useful: You probably associate fads with fashion and junior high school, but fads are very much a part of modern academic culture. Whole disciplines and sub-disciplines rise and fall in popularity, as do certain ideas and personalities, the influence of which will often cross disciplinary boundaries. The pernicious effects [...]

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A sincere question (about Meillassoux)

I raised this question on Twitter yesterday, and I’m still curious: Does Quentin Meillassoux represent such a sea-change in philosophy he needs a book introducing his, er, one book, and handful of articles? Really, I’m not being sarcastic or snarky, but am asking this question in good faith because I’m genuinely perplexed.  Here’s the blurb: [...]

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Nine Worthies

I came across a medieval tradition of “Nine Worthies” and the three from the Classical period are Hector, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. I have to say I’m puzzled by why Hector is one of the figures? Is it because of Aeneas and the Roman connection?

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Two Cultures, today…

I was led to a discussion with Quentin Meillassoux (via Fabio at Hypertiling) wherein this passage caught my eye: …the difficulty is to have the culture of the problem. People think that to be intelligent is to say there is no problem. But what is rare is a philosopher who tries to work in the direction [...]

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Annals of Bad Faith: “Bush on Bush”

NY Times review of Bush’s Decision Points: Doubts arise about the depth of Bush’s principles in part because he so often clung to them even as he violated them. A typical Bush mind change goes like this: (1) I have always believed deeply that X. But (2) in this case X would cause vast human [...]

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Things That Are Better Auf Deutsch: Part I

Wife and I were greatly entertained by German promos of “Die Iron Man ZWEI” while driving around a German-speaking country, so this is a new rubric dedicated to that nagging feeling you have that… things are better in German!

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Nature Comes To Me

Foxes have been inhabiting some strange urban spaces around our building, but today I got a nice shot of one (click to see the full-size version, I’m especially proud of coming very close to the beast): 

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Object-Oriented Zen

I don’t know why but I have recently (yet again) glanced at an object-oriented post, but this time about Marx – boy, was I sorry? Not that I consider myself an expert of any sort, especially on Marx, but I’ve read my share of Marx and I think that this is so dumb and on [...]

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