[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.

[Reflections] Some Misgivings about the 2020 PhilPapers Survey

The questions prod respondents to think about philosophy in a certain way that many people—the authors presumably included—so take for granted that they don’t even notice that there’s prodding going on.

Newsletter: October 2021

On one hand, Heidegger is arguably the most important figure in European philosophy in the twentieth century. On the other hand, he was for a time a card-carrying member of the Nazi Party.