Category Archives: Philosophy

Wittgenstein’s Two Greatest Insights About Language

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Steven Yates

We’re back, after another unfortunate hiatus caused by a lingering illness and furthered by a computer meltdown. Might as well accept it: I will never be a technology person. But anywize…. This post is one I’ve been planning for some … Continue reading →

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April Book Potpourri: Kipnis, Stanley, Jorjani, More …

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Steven Yates

Over recent months and weeks any number of items have come to my attention that could have been blog entries, had I complete information about them. For example, there is the just-released book by Laura Kipnis, Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campuses (Harpers, 2017), as of this writing listed as #1 bestseller in feminist theory on Amazon.com. Continue reading →

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What Should Philosophy Do? (Part 3)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Steven Yates

In the first two installments of this trilogy, our point of departure being John Horgan’s series on Scientific American, we offered a tentative response to the questions posed both by his title (“What Is Philosophy’s Point?”) and by ours. Before … Continue reading →

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What Should Philosophy Do? (Part 2)

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Steven Yates

Last week, we outlined four answers to this question, provided examples of each, and following a brief discussion of Comte’s Law of Three Stages and the rise of materialism as a philosophical dogma, brought our discussion to a tentative conclusion: … Continue reading →

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What Should Philosophy Do? (Part 1)

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Steven Yates

Inspiring this series of posts (I’m thinking there might again be three) is John Horgan’s series on “What Is Philosophy’s Point?” in Scientific American (five installments, here, here, here, here, and here). I should begin by saying that I am … Continue reading →

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Brian Eno Mix

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Steven Yates

I noticed a week or so back that the masthead on this blog includes, as one of our topics, “a little music.” There hasn’t been any music on here, though, or any discussions of it, not that I recall. I … Continue reading →

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The Spat Over A Christian Philosopher’s Presentation Reveals the True State of the Profession: Wretched!

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Steven Yates

“The more the antics of hard-leftist professors with tenure can be exposed … in articles, on blogs, on Facebook, etc., the wider will be the realization that academic philosophy may be active institutionally but is intellectually dead in the water. The wider the doors may one day open to the writings of us outsiders in a troubled world hungering for meaning and actual critical thinking, the sorts of things philosophy traditionally pointed toward and provided.” Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Christian Worldview, Culture, Higher Education Generally, Philosophy, Where Is Philosophy Going? | 14 Comments

Eight Theses on the “Alt-Right”

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Steven Yates

Prior to Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s speech last week, I’d barely heard the term “alt-right.” Seems I am not a part of it, if for no other reason than that I am too old. What it appears to be … Continue reading →

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The 50 Most Influential Living Philosophers

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Steven Yates

Intriguing list of the “50 most influential living philosophers” at http://www.thebestschools.org/features/most-influential-living-philosophers/. Brian Leiter doesn’t much care for it, but this list seems to me reasonably balanced in offering representatives of, e.g., both Christian and atheist perspectives, Continental versus analytic philosophers, … Continue reading →

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E-Philosophy: A Brief Manifesto

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Steven Yates

The word philosophy comes to us from two Greek words meaning the love of wisdom. What is wisdom? Knowledge, both theoretical and practical, used in ways both defining and helping to bring about what is good and beneficial in life … Continue reading →

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