Dangers at Dilettante Point

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" it's said. Here I try to explain how and why.
Read more (1100 words)

On Chords, Maps and Effects in Art

Responding to a post on Suspended Reason, I talk about how underwhelming conceptual art is, why it's more subjective than other kinds and why it's highly regarded even though it shouldn't be.
Read more (3500 words)

Erisology of Self and Will, Part 7: Closing Thoughts

Part 7 of a series adapted from my 2009 Bachelor's Thesis in philosophy. This last part is a summary and some thoughts on how to deal with the problems described in the series, why a hardline attitude is counterproductive and how we want freedom and responsibility to be metaphysically real. Also criticism from present-me.
Read more (3700 words)

Erisology of Self and Will, Part 6: The Need and the Reasons

Part 6 of a series adapted from my 2009 Bachelor's Thesis in philosophy. The reasons why the traditional view persists when prescientific thinking on other topics often doesn’t: freedom and responsibility.
Read more (2300 words)

Erisology of Self and Will, Part 5: Campbellian Thinking in the Wild

Part 5 of a series adapted from my 2009 Bachelor's Thesis in philosophy. I discuss some examples of people expressing a quasi-mystical view of the self online.
Read more (2100 words)

Erisology of Self and Will, Part 4: The Gulf

Part 4 of a series adapted from my 2009 Bachelor's Thesis in philosophy. It discusses some scientific disciplines with bearing on the self, and how their results are interpreted differently by the traditional paradigm vs. the scientific.
Read more (2700 words)

Erisology of Self and Will, Part 3: A Natural Offering

Part 3 of a series adapted from my 2009 Bachelor's Thesis in philosophy. A sketch of a naturalist view of the self, assembled from background assumptions in the physical sciences.
Read more (4300 words)