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"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
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- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
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- Strange Bedfellows in the Academy: Alliance Theory and the Straussian Schism
- Tournier on Desmond Ford
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- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
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Category Archives: Philosophy
What is abductive reasoning and how does it help us?
Grok says: Abductive reasoning is a form of logical inference that seeks the most likely explanation for a set of observations. Unlike deductive reasoning, which derives specific conclusions from general premises with certainty, or inductive reasoning, which generalizes from specific … Continue reading
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Describe the differences and implications of the buffered identity vs the porous identity
Grok says: The concepts of buffered identity and porous identity stem from philosophical and cultural discussions, particularly associated with Charles Taylor’s work in A Secular Age. They describe contrasting ways in which individuals experience their sense of self in relation … Continue reading
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Explain buffered identity in liberalism
Grok says: Answer Buffered identity in liberalism refers to a concept developed by philosopher Charles Taylor in his exploration of secularism and modernity, specifically within the framework of his book “A Modern Social Imaginary” and “Sources of the Self.” Here’s … Continue reading
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When Reason Goes On Holiday: Philosophers in Politics
Neven Sesardic wrote in this 2016 book: ^ Many contemporary philosophers have disgraced themselves by defending totalitarian political systems and advocating political ideas they should have easily recognized as distasteful and inhumane. To give just three well – known examples, … Continue reading
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Hobbes v Locke
The two philosophers I think about the most these days are Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Hobbes argues for the absolute regime and Locke for the liberal state. Overall, my worldview is more aligned with Hobbes. In the state of … Continue reading
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The Buffered Identity
Philosopher Charles Taylor wrote in his 2007 book A Secular Age: A modern is feeling depressed, melancholy. He is told: it’s just your body chemistry, you’re hungry, or there is a hormone malfunctioning, or whatever. Straightaway, he feels relieved. He … Continue reading
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My Principles For Understanding The World
These are my rules for life and these are my principles for decoding reality: * We live in a post-modern world. There’s no one narrative that adequately explains reality. * Personalities are usually less powerful than situations. The news media … Continue reading
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On Epistemic Black Holes. How Self-Sealing Belief Systems Develop and Evolve
Here are excerpts from a preprint of a 2023 philosophy paper: * Here’s a sample of some extremely implausible and unfounded beliefs that are endorsed by many apparently sane and rational people even in the age of modern science: the … Continue reading
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Stephen Turner and the Philosophy of the Social
Here are some highlights from this 2021 book: * Tocqueville claimed that when he visited the US in the mid-nineteenth century most people did not genuinely believe in God or in Christian dogmas. However, as most people also believed that … Continue reading
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The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change (1998)
Here are some excerpts from this book sociologist Randall Collins: * The long-term tendency of an active intellectual community is to raise the level of abstraction and reflexivity. * Individuals who participate in IRs [interaction rituals] are filled with emotional … Continue reading
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