Philosophy

Author: heldke

  • And I thought that empty chair was for Elijah!

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    heldke

    What to do if you meet Rene Descartes.

  • Britain officially apologizes to Turing

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    heldke

    According to the Times, British P.M. Gordon Brown has issued an official apology for the inhumane treatment it visited upon mathematician/philosopher and WWII codebreaker Alan Turing. Turing, who was gay, was convicted of “gross indecency” and forced to take female hormones. He committed suicide at age 41. Read the full article here: Britain Apologizes to…

  • If Marx had to take out the trash….

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    heldke

    http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38517

  • In Memoriam Leszek Kolakowski

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    heldke

    The Polish-born philosopher Leszek Kolakowski died July 17 at the age of 81. Theoretically, his work moved from Soviet-style Marxism, to Marxist humanism, to a view that eventually rejected Marxism altogether, on the grounds that it was guilty of all the sins of capitalism, plus a few of its own. His sizeable corpus includes everything…

  • Philosophy Born of Struggle: upcoming conference

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    heldke

    PBS09 “The Sixteenth Annual Philosophy Born of Struggle Conference will address a variety of approaches to religion in contemporary society and particularly the interconnections between race, religious practices, and political action.” Proposals of 150 to 200 words are due by August 10. See the attached flyer for details.

  • Take that, Novalis!

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    heldke

    For at least two centuries, people who ought to know better have been alleging that “philosophy bakes no bread.”  Google the expression, and you’ll find it (or a version of it) attributed to that wildly prolific philosopher, It Has Been Said. I found a hand-scrawled note to myself, claiming that Bertrand Russell says it in…

  • Just in time for beach reading

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    heldke

    Wondering what to read when you head to the ocean/lake/bathtub this summer? How about bringing along your waterproof laptop, so you can check out the theses produced this year by our six senior majors? Navigate on over to http://gustavus.edu/academics/philosophy/seniortheses.php. Summer is the perfect time for theory, don’t you think?

  • What Would Plato Program?

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    heldke

    The jokes are probably a lot funnier if, oh, you know a lot about programming languages. But even philosophers such as I, who never look under the hoods of our computers, can appreciate this look at the  languages philosophers would use, If Philosophers Were Programmers. A tip o’ the pixel to my blog coach, Joe…

  • Egg-sistentialism: Sartre’s cookbook

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    heldke

    Reading Sartre’s cookbook makes it clear why the man spent so much time in cafes.

  • Senior Philosophers Present

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    heldke

    The six graduating members of the philosophy department presented their thesis research at the second annual Celebration of Creative Inquiry, held in the college dining rooms on Friday, May 1. Representing the department were Kate Goodpaster, Joe Hillman, Laurel Hoch, Rhea Muchalla, Jeff Nichols, Caleb Phillips.