Dark Star Rising: a review of Gary Lachman’s disturbing recent book
October 22, 2018
the occult moves into the White House … More Dark Star Rising: a review of Gary Lachman’s disturbing recent book
Advertisements
Language and Thought: Are they the same?
October 17, 2018
Dr. Steven Pinker asked the question:”What sense, then, can we make of the suggestion that images, numbers, kinship relations, or logic can be represented in the brain without being couched by words?” (Language Instinct, p. 64) He credits Alan Turing as being the man responsible for making the idea of mental representation, which Pinker calls mentalese, scientifically … More Language and Thought: Are they the same?
Can We Think without Words?
October 15, 2018
Are language and thought one and the same? Can we only know reality through the medium of language? Donald Fagen, one of the geniuses behind Steely Dan, in his autobiography Elegant Hipsters, traces entire subcultures spawned by Count Korzybski’s General Semantics. The basic idea of the book is succinctly summarized by Steven Pinker in The Language Instinct: “General … More Can We Think without Words?
Steven Pinker: Friend or foe of the Enlightenment?
October 11, 2018
It pains me to write this. This morning my Google news feed included a review of Enlightenment Now from the Jacobin magazine denouncing Steven Pinker as a “false friend of the Enlightenment”; and this, just when I thought I could sit back and watch the march of progress from the comfort of my own home. Dr Frim, … More Steven Pinker: Friend or foe of the Enlightenment?
Jack Poulson: Profile in Courage
October 10, 2018
Can a moral choice make a difference? … More Jack Poulson: Profile in Courage
Sentimental Rationality: tribalism offers safety in belief. Philosophy log #3
October 8, 2018
tribalism makes for parallel universes, perpetuating conflict … More Sentimental Rationality: tribalism offers safety in belief. Philosophy log #3
Why philosophy?
October 3, 2018
there is a deeper world than this … More Why philosophy?
What Is?
October 2, 2018
To ask this question deeply is to step into quicksand from which there may be no return for those who sincerely ask it. You may, for the rest of your life, be consumed with trying to answer it. Nothing will ever seem to be the same again. Just look at the Pied Pipers of the … More What Is?
The Janus Case: mustard gas for unions?
May 9, 2018
Tony Utano, President of the TWU Local 100 recently told his members that the Janus Case is like “mustard gas”. You can see it, but you can’t predict which way the wind will blow it. He clearly means that the expected Supreme Court decision, with Neil Gorsuch now on the bench, will have … More The Janus Case: mustard gas for unions?
The Guru Letters
May 9, 2018
It was 1940, and the Democratic Convention was about to pick their presidential candidates. Paul Block, a Pittsburgh newspaper publisher, knew he had dynamite. The “guru” letters. They were strange letters written by Henry A. Wallace, currently FDR’s popular Secretary of Agriculture, and rumored to be his choice for VP in the upcoming presidential election. … More The Guru Letters