Electric Agora (archive)

Tag: Jerry Fodor

  • Wittgenstein and Woke Philosophy

    by Bharath Vallabha ___ Since I was a philosophy undergrad 25 years ago, I wanted academic philosophy to be more diverse. Back then, at least in the departments I was in, most philosophy professors and students were white males, and the curriculum was almost entirely European. What most bugged me was this was so taken…

  • Three Constraints on the Philosophy of Art

    by Daniel A. Kaufman _____ Preliminary Remarks After a brief hiatus in the last century, the search for a definition of ‘art’ has resumed with great vigour. Wittgensteinians may bemoan this as intellectual atavism, an anachronistic longing for “essences,” but I am inclined to think that the revival of the question of ‘art’ ’s definition…

  • Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics: Explanatory Disunity

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ As readers know, I have been running a series of conversations with Crispin Sartwell, as an accompaniment to these prolegomena. I asked Crispin to do this with me for two reasons: First, he is the only person within my circle capable of addressing the many and diverse subject areas across…

  • Feminism, Mental Representation, and Churros

    by Daniel A. Kaufman A disturbing glimpse into the way contemporary gender identity politics is compromising science and medicine. https://quillette.com/2018/10/18/trans-activists-campaign-against-terfs-has-become-an-attack-on-science/ How progressive politics have ruined comedy. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/social-justice-warriors-arent-funny/ A detailed history of the original feminists, which their contemporary progeny should read carefully. https://www.city-journal.org/metoo-movement [The late] Jerry Fodor’s brilliant and hilarious survey of theories of mental representation.…

  • Supertramp, Egg Salad and Darwin

    by Daniel A. Kaufman A terrific takedown of the current, narcissistic “self-improvement” madness. https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/08/why-are-modern-men-obsessed-with-self-improvement/ High quality video of Supertramp playing live in 1979. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD4cpwKaS5c My dialogue with Justin Weinberg of the Daily Nous on the current state of Philosophy. http://meaningoflife.tv/videos/40774 A deliciously vicious dustup between Patricia Churchland and Colin McGinn.  Plus more from Marcia Cavell…

  • Balthus, Poirot, Strudel, and Rakka

    by Daniel A. Kaufman A beautiful documentary about David Suchet’s remarkable portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, for 25 years. A thoughtful, articulate essay on Balthus that is exactly the sort of thing we need more of in today’s rush to “cleanse” history of its “problematic” artists and works. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/06/28/balthus-therese-through-glass-darkly/ The late Jerry Fodor on…