Philosophy as a Way of Life
-
Coordination, Subordination, and Exordination
Yesterday in our class, the discussion led me to talk for a little bit about a distinction originally made by Marcuse, I believe, regarding soft versus hard totalitarianism. I extended this description out to all manner of group structures that lead… Continue reading
-
Ordering expectations
In Tuesday’s class, we touched on the diverse story traditions from ancient India. My colleagues spent time at the beginning of our meeting talking with each other about what they had discovered about Indian sacred traditions, and what questions this… Continue reading
-
Introducing the Reality of Reality
Beginning our section on Hinduism today. So I decided to do two lecture sessions. Continue reading
-
Ultimate Concern
For our Thursday class, we began by everyone sitting in a circle on the floor. We stretched out our legs so that our feet touched each other completing the circle. Then we went around the circle and each named a… Continue reading
-
Explanations of religion
Below my lecture from 13 July 2016. Before I addressed the students, we had more discussion on what we take for granted in the everyday world, and then we shared a few things we take for granted about religion. Our questions… Continue reading
-
The High Priests of Capitalism
Richard D. Wolff takes some time to describe how traditional intellectuals and economic theorists keep the superstructure mostly clear of those who disagree. Highly placed economic theorists usually evaluate the system prevailing in their societies very positively and construct celebratory… Continue reading
-
Hidden Desire: Nietzsche, Gay Philosopher
Most folks I know who focus on Nietzsche are very heteronormative. Yet Nietzsche as gay man has always made so much sense to me. Why do folks NOT read Nietzsche as a man who loved men, a man even more… Continue reading
-
The #perfect is the enemy of the #good
Sitting around with the first occupiers of Zuccotti Park on the first anniversary of Occupy, I listened to one lovely young man talking about the rage that his peers, particularly his gender, often have. But, he added, fury is not… Continue reading
-
Heterotopia of Facebook
Michel Foucault first introduced the notion of heterotopia in the preface of his 1966 book Les Mots et les Choses (translated in 1970 as The Order of Things), and further developed the concept in his famous lecture ‘Of Other Spaces’… Continue reading
-
Ethics and The Unblocked Life
Ethics: Acting in a situation with appropriate energy. Doing without overstepping what is necessary for life. (Where “life” is to be held as distinct from mere existence or survival.) And maybe that opens up the next query: What is life?… Continue reading
-
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth’s superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man… Continue reading
-
Quiet and meditation as pedagogy
In 2007, James Dierke, then the principal of the Visitacion Valley Middle School in a troubled neighborhood in San Francisco, was determined to improve both the quality of education and student behavior in his school. He adopted a system called… Continue reading
-
Expulsion of the White Working Class
This exemplifies how the superstructure dominates every aspect of our lives. The neoliberal policies of the two plutocratic parties, Democrat and Republican, keep folks separated along racial lines so that the bottom 50% of citizens will not communicate with each other.… Continue reading
-
Bringing out the dead
Being in academia, asked to do what academics do to show they are really academics, makes me feel dead inside. The world doesn’t need more proliferating monographs and essays. It needs thinkers who will spend time with young people one… Continue reading
-
May the Fourth Be with You
Let-go of what weighs you down… “Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.” ~Yoda. And May the Fourth be with you! Continue reading
-
Research method: napping
Over the years as I worked through the #trudgery of academic assignments, napping has become an important aspect of my process. I read and write on a subject for a few hours. Then I drink about 8 ounces of black… Continue reading
-
Mindful Self-Acceptance? Bad Idea According to Ancient Chinese Philosophers
Asian philosophies have proven extremely influential in the United States, but are they being interpreted correctly? Frequently not, says Harvard China historian Michael Puett, who focuses on two main ideas in this video: one transported relatively recently to the United… Continue reading
CALL ME MAGGIE 
You must be logged in to post a comment.