Newsletter: December 2025

On Heidegger’s account, our primary mode of encounter with the world is what he calls care. It’s because, in some deep way, my being-in-the-world matters to me that the world takes the shape that it does at all.

The Sense of the Past

The present period in history is distinctive precisely in virtue of its awareness of being a period in history.

Saints and Prophets

Heidegger aspired to be a prophet and Wittgenstein aspired to be a saint. Prophets want to improve the world and saints want to perfect themselves.

Existentialism in Twentieth-Century Culture

Existentialism captures the popular imagination partly because it’s so much more than just philosophy.

What Is Existentialism Part Four: “Broad Church” Existentialism

The term “existentialism” has taken on a life of its own and has found application in a wide range of contexts. In a wry nod to existentialism’s complicated relationship with religion, I’ll call this broader movement “broad church existentialism.”

[Starting Points] What Is Existentialism? Part 2: Existentialist Themes

One way to understand existentialism is as an attempt to find meaning in a world that’s lost its faith.

[Reflections] Something in the Way

Thinking well about the things that concern me requires intelligence. Understanding these concerns and what motivates them requires wisdom. Philosophy, to the extent that it is rightly called the love of wisdom, is essentially concerned with self-knowledge.

[Reflections] Why Does the History of Philosophy Matter to Philosophy?

By situating my own thinking within a broader historical tradition, I can see more clearly how my particular concerns and preoccupations are mine rather than just the objectively and timelessly important ones that all people with philosophical inclinations might turn themselves to.

[Reflections] On Art and Religious Experience

Saying you love art but have no interest in religion is like saying you love EDM but have no interest in dancing.

Newsletter: February 2022

We live in an era that’s impatient and grasping, says Heidegger. Our technological prowess is only the most outward evidence of this more general way of being in the world.