This article originally appeared at The Jerusalem Post. A long green cloud appears in the night sky and hovers next to the moon. It then breaks into witch-like fingers and descends to earth. I’ll never forget that scene, as well as the eerie music accompanying it. It comes from the classic 1956 film The Ten … Continue reading Ye shall do this, ye shall do that: Making sense of Passover (from a non-Jewish point of view)
In “Becoming Parents to Ourselves” Eldar Sarajlic, an assistant professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, offers some words of wisdom on parenthood. Although he gets stuck in the weeds at some point and assumes that our personal identities are built on rational reflections (when they are also built on chance or … Continue reading Hey Parents: Let Your Children Be Radical Novelties!
I’ve always thought that life is too short, the world too big, and the wonders of existence too many, to specialize in anything. But today’s ruling ethos says that specialization is the key to advancing career-wise or to becoming a celebrated pianist. Is this really true?
What is American “philosophy” nowadays? Does our culture end at commercialism, video games, Netflix and the NFL? In a recent article – “What Happened to Philosophy in America?” – Michael Sutherland seems to think so. He claims philosophical thinking is in short supply in the land of the free (land of the distracted is more like it).
An “observer columnist” at The Guardian thinks an idea is valid only if a name is attached to it. Kenan Malik, the columnist in question, was discussing the recently proposed “Journal of Controversial Ideas.” The journal, according to Jeff McMahan, a professor of moral philosophy at Oxford University and an initiator of the project, “would … Continue reading A Journal for ‘Controversial Ideas’ in Sensitive Times… Why Not?
In this public radio broadcast, Georgetown University philosopher Jason Brennan makes the case for an “epistocracy”: the rule of the knowledgeable.
Chinese online news sources recently reported the unveiling of a gigantic statue of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong province, in Eastern China, the birthplace of the ancient philosopher.
A meandering and at times highly questionable article in The Guardian titled “How feelings took over the world” can be summarized in brief with a few quotes. Ok, it’s not really a summary but a distillation of the article’s most interesting ideas. So what? To all those exhaustive types out there—sue me.
Feral Philosophy 