Rationality and Morality

Posted on by under Uncategorized

There’s been a lot of politics on this blog lately. Though I am in some sense a historian of political philosophy, I don’t much like politics, but I do like philosophy. So I thought I’d try to make a more purely philosophical contribution. It’s not that politics is unimportant. It’s just that it’s, so, well…frustrating. Then again, so is much contemporary philosophy. So perhaps I’ll just be trading one source of frustration for another. Let’s see.

What follows is a first attempt to get straight on some issues that have been simmering in the back of my mind for a while. I have no doubt that my formulations of these issues will be somewhat crude and in need of considerable qualification, if not revision. But that’s what I need you for.

Continue reading →

Republican Islamophobia: A Response

Posted on by under Uncategorized

This is a much belated response to Peter Saint-Andre and Michael Young on Republican Islamophobia, from my post of January 5. Given its length, I’ve decided to make a new post of my response rather than try to insert it into the combox.

Looking over the whole exchange, I can’t help thinking that the point I made in my original post has gotten lost in a thicket of meta-issues orthogonal to what I said in the original post. I don’t dispute that the issues that Peter and Michael have brought up are worth discussing, but I still think that they bypass what I actually said.

Continue reading →

Contingency, Irony, and Brutality: Richard Rorty in Israel

Posted on by under Uncategorized

As the years went by, and we both left Princeton, I am afraid the incipient intellectual and emotional gulf between us got wider, especially after what I saw as Dick’s turn toward ultra-nationalism with the publication of Constructing Our Country. Dick had always been and remained to the end of his life a “liberal” (in the American sense, i.e., a “Social Democrat”): a defender of civil liberties and of the extension of a full set of civic rights to all, a vocal supporter of the labor unions and of programs to improve the conditions of the poor, an enemy of racism, cruelty, arbitrary authority, and social exclusion.

Continue reading →

Letter from a Chevalier to a Lady of No Quality

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Dear Lady Who Was Sitting in the Middle of Row E at the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra’s All-Beethoven Concert, Enlow Recital Hall, Kean University, Hillside, New Jersey, February 6, 2016, between 7:30 and 9:30 pm:

I think it’s really cool that you brought your three young children to an orchestral performance, I really do. Audiences for classical music are starting to dwindle nowadays, and if classical music is to survive, it needs the support of the younger generation–like your three delightful little children.

But still, I would like to point out to you that

Continue reading →

Reason Papers 37.2 is now out

Posted on by under Uncategorized

The latest issue of Reason Papers, vol. 37, number 2 is now out; officially, it’s the Fall 2015 issue, but we only just managed to put it up on the website last night. This link will take you to a monster-size PDF to the whole issue (almost 250 pages). This link will take you to the journal’s Archive page, where you can access individual articles for this or any past issue (you have to scroll down a bit). Finally, this link will take you to three (time sensitive) Calls for Papers issued by the journal’s editors: one on “the philosophy of play” (March 1, 2016); one a fifteen-year retrospective on 9/11 (July 1, 2016); and one an Authors-Meet-Critics symposium on Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas Rasmussen’s forthcoming book The Perfectionist Turn: From Meta-Norms to Meta-Ethics (February 1, 2017).

Continue reading →

Student Papers Written via Translation Software: A Conundrum?

Posted on by under Uncategorized

I’m curious what PoT readers think of this.

I just got out of a faculty meeting in which one of the faculty from the Dept of Communications gave a short presentation on a problem he said he’s recently encountered. The problem is as follows. Some of our students come from non-English-speaking households. Obviously, they can speak English in a functional way, but they feel more comfortable writing in their native languages, especially if they  have to do so for credit. When assigned writing assignments for class, some students in this situation will write the paper in their native language (say, Spanish), translate the paper into English via an online translation app (e.g., Google Translate), and then submit the translated version of the paper for credit without disclosing what they’ve done.

Continue reading →

“Exploring Liberty” at The College of New Jersey

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Yet another conference announcement, care of TCNJ’s James Stacey Taylor:

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)  will be hosting a wonderful conference on “Exploring Liberty” on Feb. 19th (in the evening) and 20th. This seminar will be thoroughly interactive, with students and professors discussing the ideas as peers…. Not just in the formal events, but over refreshments and meals, too, all of which will be provided.

This event is not limited to TCNJ students; all are welcome, and in the past students from PA, NY, MD, and MA have attended. We expect a similarly diverse group this year. It is possible that accommodation could be provided for students attending from out of town–please email me directly (my address is below) for details.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, Classics, and Religious Studies, and the classical liberal educational non-profit The Institute for Humane Studies.

Please send any questions to me, James Taylor, at jtaylor AT tcnj DOT edu

I strongly encourage all to attend-including faculty!

Here’s a link to the conference announcement and registration page at the IHS site.

“My Existential Valentine”

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Wow, this looks like the perfect place to take a date for Valentine’s Day–assuming you have a date for Valentine’s Day.

Is Valentine’s Day an opportunity for meaningful celebrations of love, or is it merely a chocolate-covered con? As lovers, should we resist being seduced into spending billions of dollars annually on red roses and teddies (be they bears or lingerie)? Or should we surrender to the superficial satisfactions they represent? Be there as Skye Cleary takes us on an existential look at the hype and the possibilities for authentic loving. And bring someone you love.

Those are all really good questions, but they seem awfully hypothetical, at least to me. Put it this way: they cut to the essence of love, but as Sartre taught us, existence precedes essence.