I don’t know how many professional philosophers read this blog, and hence how widely read my writing of the last ten years is, but I expect the answer is “Not much”. I wish to put it on record that I think this is a grievous mistake. My exclusion from professional philosophy in America over the […]
Quantifiers Deconstructed How should we interpret the quantifiers of the predicate calculus? Here is one suggestion: “Ex(Fx)” should be read “There exists an individual, call it x, such that Fx”.[1] There is an obvious problem with this: it commits a use-mention fallacy. The first occurrence of “x” should be in quotation marks so that the […]
Truth, Lies, and the Internet Two things compete for control over our beliefs: facts and falsehoods. That is, people form beliefs sometimes as a result of facts—in which case their beliefs are true—and sometimes as a result of lies they have been told—in which case their beliefs are false. The factual falsehood of lies is […]
Is Logic Gibberish? We are familiar with the standard notation of predicate logic in which we have what is called variable binding. Thus we have a symbol for (say) existence followed by an “x” and then a formula in which a predicate and bound variable occur (“Ex(Fx)”). How should we read this? It is common […]
I went to see the film the other day. It is commendable in many ways. I liked the moment, surely lost on most viewers, when Einstein says to someone visiting the Institute in Princeton, “Have you met Dr Godel?”–who then disappears for the rest of the movie. But it irritated me that Oppenheimer was depicted […]
I’m reading Goethe’s “Italian Journey”. He remarks during his visit to Rome: “The past year has been the most important one in my life; it does not matter whether I die now or last a while longer, in either case I am content.” People used to ask me whether there was anything about England I […]
I Feel So Weak Well, I feel so weak There’s nothing I can do I can’t even speak Or come right over to you I’m a-laying in my bed Can’t stand on my own two feet I feel half dead It’s hard for me to breathe Coz I’m weak In my physique […]
Why Did You Die? You were my dear old friend That word is too short for you Now you’ve gone and left me And I don’t know what to do I’d walk with you by my side On summer days and winter nights I thought you’d always be around Like the clear blue […]
Higher-Order Desire As we know from the work of Frankfurt, it is possible to have second-order desires directed at first-order desires. For example, the prudent alcoholic may decide, upon reflection, to reject or moderate his desire for alcohol: he desires not to desire alcohol, or to act on that desire. He thinks about his first-order […]
I just finished reading Bob Dylan’s The Philosophy of Modern Song. There is no philosophy in it but plenty about song. He clearly has never read any philosophy of music, or perhaps any philosophy at all (bit of Nietzsche maybe). I don’t know what he means by “Modern Song”: certainly there is nothing classical in it, though […]