POLITICAL DESPAIR IN 1939
A.J. Ayer:
The political situation makes me more and more depressed. I resent above all the feeling of impotence from which one suffers at times like these, the feeling that really everything one values is at the mercy of knaves and fools.
SUCCESS: SOLO ACHIEVEMENT, OTHERS' SUPPORT, OR LUCK?
Jenny Odell:
A 2012 Pew study found that 62 percent of U.S. respondents disagreed with the statement “Success in life is determined by forces outside our control.
A. J. AYER, MIKE TYSON, AND ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD
If I were forced to categorize this post, I’d be torn between two options: the category of “Trivia about philosophers that I find interesting” and the category of “How can I distract myself for at least a minute from the country that is falling apart around me?
Read moreSHY OCTOPUS LOOKING AT YOU
Peter Godfrey-Smith:
A small octopus was staring at one of our unmanned cameras on a tripod for a while from its den, and then went off camera and returned with a piece of dead sponge.
I CANNOT BE SILENT
I resisted posting anything about yesterday’s Oval Office fiasco because I wanted some time to reflect. This morning I realize that even after a sleepless night I can’t say anything that David Frum, Timothy Snyder, Bret Stephens (even Bret Stephens!
Read moreCONSERVATION, NARRATIVES, AND IDENTITY
Erich Hatala Matthes:
…we need to remember that an explanation of the relationship between our sense of self and the motivation to conserve is not necessarily a justification of it.