CALL ME MAGGIE

Philosophy as a Way of Life

  • necrophilia

    Originally posted on coromandal: This excerpt by Erich Fromm describes necrophilia in terms of sadism, control, work and technology.  Necrophilia is literally love of death, which on its face sounds absurd, until we realize, with a closer look, that it’s… Continue reading

    necrophilia

  • Veteran Organizer Gives Inside Look at the First $15 Minimum Wage Campaign

    …more than just a collection of war stories, Rosenblum’s purpose in Beyond $15 is to persuade other advocates to follow his lead. The book uses Sea-Tac’s success to argue for a “social movement union” approach to organizing that grounds labor… Continue reading

    Veteran Organizer Gives Inside Look at the First $15 Minimum Wage Campaign

  • What appears tends to disappear

    Φύσις δε… kαθ’ Ηραkλειτον… kρύπτεσθαι φιλεΐ Phúsis de… kath’ Erakleiton… krúptesthai phileî (Qtd in Themistius, Orations 5.69b, DK B123) The story I am about to tell therefore begins symbolically at Ephesus, in Asia Minor, around 500 BCE, on the day… Continue reading

    What appears tends to disappear

  • Of girls, bulls, and the authenticity of subversion

    “…March 7th of this year, the day before International Women’s Day. Fearless Girl appeared, standing in front of Charging Bull. On the surface, it appears to be another work of guerrilla art — but it’s not. Unlike Di Modica’s work, Fearless… Continue reading

  • Notes on Immaterialism | Becoming Integral

    In Immaterialism: Objects and Social Theory (Polity Press, 2016), Graham Harman applies his object-oriented philosophy to social objects. The book functions as “a compact list of the first principles of object-oriented social theory, which I have also called ‘immaterialism’” (126).… Continue reading

    Notes on Immaterialism | Becoming Integral

  • Anti-Fascism vs. Nostalgia in “Rogue One”

    Thanks to my old high school friend, John F., for pointing this out to me. Great summary of why Rogue One may be the best Star Wars film yet. The author is at pains, sometimes, to be sufficiently critical; maybe errs… Continue reading

  • Becoming Other: Foucault, Deleuze, and the Political Nature of Thought   | Learning Philosophy of Change

    In this paper–linked after the jump–Giorgio Bertini employs the notion of the ‘thought of the outside’ as developed by Michel Foucault, in order to defend the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze against the criticisms of ‘elitism,’ ‘aristocratism,’ and ‘political indifference’–famously leveled by Alain… Continue reading

  • The idea of God

    Intro to Philosophy on MWF @ 1:00pm. I asked the youth to read chapter 4 of Way to Wisdom–“The Idea of God.” Mostly I spent time laying the groundwork for a better understanding of what Jaspers means by “faith.” Continue reading

    The idea of God

  • Hesiod’s Chaos and Laozi’s Way

    PHIL 1060, Monday nights, 19 Sep 2016 Grounding ourselves in how the ancient Greeks and Chinese thought about the order of things. First, we discussed the basics of Hesiod’s mythopoeic worldview as a procreative cosmogony. Then, we moved over to… Continue reading

    Hesiod’s Chaos and Laozi’s Way

  • Encountering the Encompassing

    PHIL 1050, MWF @ 1:00pm, Monday 19 Sep 2016 My young friends were asked to read Jaspers chapter on das Umgreifende, the Encompassing or as Ralph Mannheim translates the term in Way to Wisdom, the Comprehensive. Not an easy thing to… Continue reading

    Encountering the Encompassing

  • The nameless backgrounds the nameable

    MWF PHIL 1050.006, 1:00pm, Friday 16 Sep 2016 We took a close look at poem 1 about the Dao (Way), spending time on the (ironic) difference between the Nameless and the nameable. Basically, it is difficult to name the Ultimate Source of Reality… Continue reading

    The nameless backgrounds the nameable

  • Metaphysics, Memory, and Dewey

    I was asked to drop by my colleague’s class and hold forth on Chapter 1 of John Dewey’s text The Reconstruction of Philosophy (get the text here). Here are the recordings from those days. Had some good discussions with the folks… Continue reading

    Metaphysics, Memory, and Dewey

  • Mythopoesis

    Intro to Philosophy (MWF @ 1pm)–12 Sep 2016 We went through the beginning of Greek philosophy in Hesiod/Homer in their attempt to express a just world order through making-narratives (mythopoesis) of gods and the birth of the cosmos. This led to… Continue reading

    Mythopoesis

  • Pressing against

    Intro to Philosophy (MWF @ 1pm)–09 Sep 2016 We went through and hit some notions from Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  Continue reading

    Pressing against

  • The duty of being friends

    M-W-F @ 1:00pm, lecture for 8/31/2016. The relationship of philosophizing (caring as skillfulness of mind) to freedom (the duty-to-be-friends) by way of mindful lineage. Continue reading

  • Whatification

    First Monday evening class for Fall 2016, Intro to Philosophy. I am treating the afternoon class and the evening class as two very distinct iterations of the same material. For the evening class, like the earlier one, I started with… Continue reading

    Whatification

  • Getting under way

    First class for  my 1:00pm iteration of Introduction to Philosophy on M – W – F. Continue reading

    Getting under way

  • Of the usefulness of propriety and the uselessness of superheroes

    Started off the day asking about why we have such a big proliferation in the stories of superheroes. Finished the day by talking about Dào 38 and touching on a lot of the problems with professional education in the USA. Continue reading

    Of the usefulness of propriety and the uselessness of superheroes