Control, Death, and Delusion

Among my morning reading fell this piece Susie Neilson at Nautilus, titled, "Here's How To Make Climate Change Extra Scary".  It could also be titled, "How Can We Strategize To Get More Money for Climate Change Research" or "Silly Ways To Prey On Fear".  In short, the "article" asserts that climate change is not found …

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Activity and Merit

As brought to my attention in a post yesterday at the Daily Nous, the "party philosopher" of the German nationalist party Alternative für Deutschland, Marc Jongen, was invited to speak at "Crises of Democracy: Thinking in Dark Times", a conference hosted by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.  Jongen seems like not only a curious …

The Burden of Being

As part of my morning reading, I came across this article by David Benatar, "Kids? Just say no" on Aeon Magazine.  I must be something of a masochist, because I read the entire piece.  In short, the article is a utilitarian argument against procreation because life is more bad than good--an argument that Benatar has evidently …

Perception

In addition to my own work in Thomism, semiotics, and phenomenology, over the summer I became a Fellow with the Center for the Study of Digital Life (CSDL), where I have been helping in an on-going discussion with many others on the topic of perception.  This discussion, carried on via Slack, has covered a wide range …

Semiotics and Science

Although not yet a widely understood field, semiotics--defined briefly as the study of the action of signs--is beginning to make a name for itself; in Europe, at least.  In my experience so far in the United States, most people outside of a limited circle who know something of "semiotics" know what is in fact semiology, …

An excerpt from Ens Primum Cognitum

Below are the first five or so pages of my recently published dissertation, Ens Primum Cognitum in Thomas Aquinas and the Tradition (Brill: Boston, 2017).  This passage explains, in brief, what the book is about and why I wrote it.  I hope it does not sound too presumptuous to say that my intent, and my interpretation …

Thomism in the 21st Century

The philosophical world today, as it has been for over a century, remains primarily divided along a single fault line: that which sunders so-called "analytic philosophy" from "continental philosophy".  To paint with enormously broad strokes, the former philosophizes by seeking ideal a priori formulas which ensure the validity of its reasoning and subsequently to verify …

In the Public Eye

For all the countless hours I have spent writing posts online, very seldom have I done so in a highly public fashion.  My disposition is a very private one, and for recognition I have always trusted in the merit of my work.  What I have come to realize over the past two years on the academic job market, however, is that--given how overcrowded academia is, relative to the number of open jobs--I will need actively to show the merit of my work, and not just anticipate it being discovered on its own.