Newsletter: January 2026

Are fictional characters the kinds of beings toward whom one can have moral obligations? I think there’s a special way in which authors can betray their characters.

Newsletter: April 2025

Sentimental artworks, and the people who indulge in them, are disappointingly incurious about the emotions involved. If the emotions are rational, and if they inform our thinking and deliberation, they warrant critical scrutiny every bit as much as thought does.

[Reflections] Does Philosophy Make Progress?

In technical terms, pretty much any PhD graduate leaves Plato in the dust. On the other hand, the Republic is a book I actually want to read.

[Starting Points] (What) Can We Learn from Literature?

How can you learn anything from a book full of events that, by the author’s own admission, are completely made up?