Electric Agora (archive)

Tag: Self

  • Self-Knowledge, Self-Alienation, and the Curious Case of NXIVM

    by Kevin Currie-Knight ___ “What does it mean to be afraid?” Sarah Edmonson recalls Lauren Salzman saying this to strengthen Sarah’s resolve right before Sarah was to be branded with a cauterizing gun. Sarah was understandably scared. Lauren asked her to think about what that fear meant. Sarah didn’t interpret it as most would; i.e.…

  • Concepts, Existence and Social Reality

    by Mark English Different kinds of implicit or explicit claims about what exists are best understood, as I see it, in a piecemeal way, by looking at how words are used both in the context of specific disciplines and in ordinary communication. In various pieces published on this site, Daniel Kaufman has elaborated a somewhat…

  • Selves and Social Ontology

    by Daniel A. Kaufman The ongoing philosophical (and to a good extent, the scientific) discussion of selves is in very poor shape, much like the discussion concerning minds and for much the same reason. We talk as if selves are things, and of course, they are, but the sense of ‘thing’ that most seem to…

  • Self-Made

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ A to B:  “You’re an asshole.” B to A:  “No I’m not.” A to B:  “Well, it’s not up to you whether you’re an asshole or not.  It’s up to everyone else.” —Louis CK (1) The “self-made man” traditionally was someone who had made his own fortune, rather than inheriting…

  • On the Philosophy of David Hume (Part Two)

    by Daniel A. Kaufman The second of two conversations on the philosophy of David Hume, with Robert Wright.  First appeared on the Sophia program, MeaningofLife.TV, October 30, 2016.