By Daniel A. Kaufman ____ By now, most readers know that I am an atheist, as I do not believe in the existence of God or anything supernatural. Readers also likely know that I am Jewish by lineage and culturally and that I think God is useless both as an explanation and as a moral... Continue Reading →
In Defense of Philosophy: Analytic, Pragmatist, and Transcendental
by Preston Stovall ____ [1] In a recent essay that got some attention in online circles in philosophy, Liam Kofi Bright foretold the end of analytic philosophy – characterizing it as a degenerating research program – and the exhaustion of a Kripkean understanding of what analytic philosophy has been up to. While reading Liam’s essay,... Continue Reading →
Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics: One More Thing (Some Stuff about God and Intelligibility)
by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ Of all things the measure is man, of the things that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not. --Protagoras 1. A common mistake that people (and philosophers, especially) make is to look for intelligibility in the wrong place. This is made worse by... Continue Reading →
Heidegger’s Illusions
by E. John Winner 1. In 1934, shortly after the infamous murder spree of the Blood Purge, Hitler delivered a speech before the Reichstag. Referring to an unspecified threat to himself – and thus to the government, and thus to the German nation, and thus to the German people – Hitler announced that in initiating... Continue Reading →
Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics: Concluding Thoughts
by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ The aim of these prolegomena has been to advocate on behalf of a pluralist metaphysics, but what is a metaphysics? Prior to the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, a metaphysics was a First Philosophy: a set of propositions the purpose of which is to describe... Continue Reading →
Joshua Rasmussen on the Prolegomena
by Daniel A. Kaufman Joshua Rasmussen of Azusa Pacific University and I discuss my ongoing Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Aq4lb-v90
Dialogues with Crispin on the Prolegomena: Vol. 3
The third of my ongoing series of discussions with Crispin Sartwell on my Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics. https://youtu.be/Pmh39dGfgrM
Discussions with Crispin on the Prolegomena: Vol. 2
The second of my ongoing series of discussions with Crispin Sartwell on my Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics. https://youtu.be/bv1Dsy00nN8
Discussions with Crispin on the Prolegomena: Vol. 1
by Daniel A. Kaufman ____ The first of what will be several dialogues with Crispin Sartwell (Dickinson College) on my Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics. https://youtu.be/AVU-vDtJoIo
Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics: Ontological Commitment
by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ My working idea in these prolegomena is that (a) philosophers feel forced to embrace various “desperate” positions (Panpsychism, Dualism, Illusionism, etc.), because of a number of (often venerated) assumptions that they’ve taken on board, all of which happen to be wrong, and (b) the re-examination of those assumptions, within the... Continue Reading →