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Not So Single-Pointed Philosophical Activity

Not So Single-Pointed Philosophical Activity

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Meditation, particularly in the tradition of Dōgen, is the paradigm for single-pointed activity. Whether you follow your breath or “just sit,” openly aware of the present moment in its entirety, Dōgen makes clear that you are not to judge whatever arises as good or bad. And when thoughts, images, desires, etc., arise, you let them go and return to the “object” of meditation. In so doing you are contributing to the re-habituation of your mind, getting “better” at letting go…

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You are Right and I have my Peace—On the Pursuit of Truth and a Meaningful Life

You are Right and I have my Peace—On the Pursuit of Truth and a Meaningful Life

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What am I after in pursuing philosophy? A ready answer is: the Truth. The truth about whatever philosophical topic I might be interested in. But this answer is problematic for a number of important reasons. One is that philosophy is extremely difficult and I’d have to be a fool or full of hubris to think that I will figure out any significant truths, truths that greater minds than my own failed to see. Another is revealed in the following passage…

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Conversing with the Universe

Conversing with the Universe

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In the classroom I’m explicit with the disclaimer that since we’re doing philosophy, nothing is off the table for questioning, including religious beliefs. It is this “nothing’s off the table for question” attitude that is so particular to philosophy, particularly as it is constantly calling itself into question. And it is this attitude that has implications for the roles we play, the masks we wear. We all play various roles, whether student, professor, parent, brother, close friend, etc. The question…

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The Limits of Science, Philosophy, and Poetry: Opening Moves

The Limits of Science, Philosophy, and Poetry: Opening Moves

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A view of knowledge that acknowledges that the sphere of knowledge is wider than the sphere of ‘science’ seems to me to be a cultural necessity if we are to arrive at a sane and human view of ourselves or of science. (Hilary Putnam, Meaning and the Moral Sciences, 5) There are, of course, a great many things that humans do quite naturally, e.g., acquire a mother tongue and fall in love. Just as naturally as those, there is the…

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Some Thoughts on Greatness

Some Thoughts on Greatness

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Nietzsche and Wittgenstein are not ends. They are variously fodder, grist, ports in the storm, and storms to be sailed into. The same for epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, logic—for philosophy. Living well is an end, a goal, though it is not a final point. It is more like a buoy in the open ocean—it can perhaps be reached, but vast openness, danger, and uncertainty lie beyond. Greatness means overflowing with a multitude. One must, for example, have a multitude of projects,…

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Nietzschean Thoughts on Black Friday

Nietzschean Thoughts on Black Friday

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Today is “black Friday” and the masses are waiting in absurd lines, dealing with absurd crowds, rubbing elbows in fear and anticipation, waiting to fork out money on “deals,” hoping to buy things for their greedy friends, relatives, and children. Why? Because those desires, those wants, when satisfied by the material goods and gadgets will make them happy, finally, or bring them that much closer to ultimate and final satisfaction. Being the compassionate souls that we are, we want to…

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Religious Practice and the Limits of Philosophy

Religious Practice and the Limits of Philosophy

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In reading Siderits’s excellent Buddhism as Philosophy I have come to realize the following problem. If a religion has its base in philosophy, if its central tenets are supposed to follow from the use of reason and argument, then none of its conclusions can ever be firm enough to ground religious practice. There will always be difficult objections and questions that cannot be answered in a way sufficient to allow one to say, “I know this is true and I…

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What’s Wrong With Cartesian Reasoning? Part I

What’s Wrong With Cartesian Reasoning? Part I

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There are many reasons to read Nietzsche. Whether you agree with his substantive views, taking him seriously will help to keep you intellectually honest. An example comes from Beyond Good and Evil, Part One: On the Prejudices of Philosophers, §5: What provokes one to look at all philosophers half suspiciously, half mockingly, is not that one discovers again and again how innocent they are – how often and how easily they make mistakes and go astray; in short, their childishness…

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Implications of the Desire to Know

Implications of the Desire to Know

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I was thinking about Aristotle’s claim in the Metaphysics that all humans by nature desire to know. It occurred to me that if this is true it might partially explain why people are so often susceptible to errors of reasoning like the bifurcation fallacy and oversimplifying important but difficult issues, e.g., God’s existence, abortion, gun rights, justice, etc. My thinking was that if people really do by nature desire to know, but the issue they are thinking about is too complex…

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Why So Many Disagreements Are Just So Damn Intractable

Why So Many Disagreements Are Just So Damn Intractable

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In a recent essay, I made a distinction between what I called epistemic reasons and purely causal reasons. The former are potentially truth preserving (capable of providing epistemic justification) the latter are not even potentially truth preserving (and thus are incapable of providing epistemic justification). In this essay, I’m going to appeal to the same basic distinction regarding reasons that do and do not provide epistemic justification, but I’m going to refer to them simply as epistemic reasons (ERs) and…

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