Month: May 2014

• May 17, 2014

  3 poor questions to ask about ‘the’ mind

  A Joke Father: Point to where my left foot is. Son [points down and to the left]: There! Father: That’s right. Now point to where my right hand is. Son [points upward and to the right]: There! Father: That’s right. Now point to where my heart is. Son [points to chest]: In there! Father: That’s right. Now…
• May 16, 2014

  Category mistake: Mental illness

  Today, I begin to inquire into this strange, fascinating, and mistaken argument: 5.) Because the human mind, like the human body, tends to be sickly and ill, it seeks healing or cures. Here, we have a classic example of what the late philosopher Gilbert Ryle called a ‘category mistake’: the misattribution of the properties that…
• May 15, 2014

  The two interesting philosophical questions for our time

  Another excursus… Over the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to understand what I have been calling our ‘modern moral metaphysic.’ So far, I have examined arguments 4 and 3 (in that order). This worldview is comprised of all or most of the following: 1.) Because the world is lost and fallen, it needs to be…
• May 14, 2014

  Our modern moral metaphysic: My basic set of questions

  In the past weeks, I have been investigating the main assumptions that underlie our modern moral metaphysic. So far, I have examined arguments 4 and 3 (in that order). 1.) Because the world is lost and fallen, it needs to be changed or ultimately saved. 2.) Because the world is broken or out-of-order, it needs…
• May 13, 2014

  Putting problems in their place

  The major purpose of reigning in the use of the word ‘problem’ is to clear a path to the thesis that the world is good and, beyond this, beautiful. The minor purpose is to return the concept ‘problem’ to its proper linguistic settings. Certain concepts are ‘at home’ in certain linguistic contexts. Yet for social, historical, metaphysical, and political reasons, some…