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Rorty on Whitehead

Since I’m back to my near-daily commute to the suburbs of Chicago, at least for the next three months, I’ve been scouting the Internet for substantial philosophy podcasts that I can listen to in my car. (Nothing personal, Krista Tippett, but I want a little more meat!) I found a recording of a seminar on A.N. [...]

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Asides

  • I have to retract my earlier comment that the Baylys don't ever respond to non-Christian criticism. I suspended my normal "lurker" status briefly on a post and Tim amended his writing, ever so slightly. It's not an overwhelming victory for inter-religious dialogue, but I'll take it as a positive step. #
  • You may have noticed that I've added an Amazon.com widget as well as my HubPages link. I'll admit that I'm adding a few ways (apart from my CafePress goods) that I might be able to make a few bucks from this site. I promise, however, that I will not clutter up the site with gratuitous links--I earn a percentage of any books you buy, but they are ones directly relevant to what I write about here. The aim of this blog has been, and always will be, to supplement my personal scholarship: so you won't see any gimmicky ways to earn revenue. #
  • And then I happen across an excerpt of a book chapter (on the "emasculation" of the Presbyterian Church) and some fantastic comments by Reformed Christians. Then I remember just how seriously these guys take the "literal interpretation" of the Bible, and the results: "The cry of church masculinization is the on ramp to exploring all things feminized. Part of that exploration wants to forbid any pastor who ever questions parents allowing their sons paint their toenails and use eyeliner or let who their daughters fawn over miserable academiacs [sic] in efforts to squash joy that comes from having children, buying good cookware, etc." Woman, get thee to a Crate & Barrel! Oh, and in case anyone here feels like going over and engaging in discussion, don't bother. The Baylys will ask you to leave if you don't accept their biblical hermeneutic. More on Galen Strawson is coming soon, I promise. #
  • According to my Wordpress stats, as of 3/14/08 there are currently 800 posts and 1,300 comments on Arbitrary Marks, contained within 45 categories and 7 tags. That's a lot of writing and a lot of discussion, too, for an esoteric blog that I started as mostly a reading journal. Thanks everyone! #
  • You know something has been lost in your explanation of philosophical analysis and critical responses when your student says, "I feel a lot better about the paper now that I know there's no right or wrong answer!" Doh. #

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Recent Posts

Jonathan Edwards and philosophy
May 7, 2008
By ck
As a former Reformed Presbyterian, I knew the work of Jonathan Edwards pretty well, or so I thought. I had read his Banner of Truth publications and knew more about him than just “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Not so: in the past month, I’ve come across his thought in two different [...]

End of a semester
May 1, 2008
By ck
Blogging will be slow until I’ve finished some commitments I have this semester. I’m grading a stack of final exams (about halfway finished), finalizing the coding on a website design for Micah’s Porch, and hoping to be gainfully employed soon. In the meantime, dive into the “Expelled” thread or the Jaegwon Kim “physicalism” post: I haven’t [...]

Self-referential contradiction
April 29, 2008
By ck
At stake for Nāgārjuna in the first objection by his opponents is whether his entire argument is self-referentially contradicting. His interlocutor’s claim is that Nāgārjuna believes that all things are empty. Things which are empty are things which, by definition, do not have causal impact. Included in the set of all things is Nāgārjuna’s statement: [...]

Jaegwon Kim’s physicalism
April 28, 2008
By ck
A few weeks ago, I picked up Jaegwon Kim's slim volume Phyicalism, or Something Near Enough and have finished his first chapter, an overview of the philosophical situation. He calls the two problems of mental causation and consciousness Weltknoten, or a "world-knot" which philosophers haven't been able to unravel yet. In a nutshell, the problem is that several key claims which seem to be necessary to hold are contradictory:

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