While the world watched France’s revolution, an equally important cultural phenomenon was occurring across the Rhine: “In the year 1789 … nothing else was talked of in Germany but the philosophy of Kant, about which were poured forth in abundance commentaries, chrestomathies, interpretations, estimates, apologies, and so forth.” That’s Heinrich Heine, who also wrote, “Our […]
[This excerpt is from Chapter 2 of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault] Epistemological solutions to Kant: Irrationalism from Kierkegaard to Nietzsche The Kantians and the Hegelians represent the pro-reason contingent in nineteenth-century German philosophy. While the Hegelians pursued metaphysical solutions to Kant’s unbridgeable gap between subject and object, in the process
Irrationalism from Kierkegaard to Nietzsche [EP] Read More »
I’m reading Steven Johnson’s The Invention of Air, which is primarily about the Joseph Priestley, the great chemist and adviser to the American founding fathers. Along the way, Johnson quotes historian Tom Standage: “The impact of the introduction of coffee into Europe during the seventeenth century was particularly noticeable since the most common beverages of
Coffee and the Enlightenment Read More »
[This is Section 18 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 18. Militarization The most important part of the new Germany was the military. On a historically unprecedented scale, the German economy became a war economy. Conscription had been reintroduced in 1935, and in 1936 Hermann Göring took over as Germany’s economic minister. Under Göring’s direction, Germany
Militarization [Section 18 of Nietzsche and the Nazis] Read More »
[This excerpt is from Chapter 3 of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault] Heidegger’s synthesis of the Continental tradition Martin Heidegger took Hegelian philosophy and gave it a personal, phenomenological twist. Heidegger is notorious for the obscurity of his prose and for his actions and inactions on behalf of the National Socialists
Heidegger and postmodernism [EP] Read More »
My publications and posts on major figures and movements in the history of ideas. Jump to: Before Philosophy * Thales * Socrates * Plato * Aristotle * The Stoics * Augustine * Aquinas * The Renaissance * The Reformation * Bacon * Descartes * Spinoza * Locke * The Enlightenment * Hume * Smith *
Intellectual History Read More »
We cover several key philosophical issues that bear directly upon education, read the works of several philosophers — Plato, Locke, Kant, Dewey, and others — who have influenced education greatly, and we look at several systems of educational philosophy.
My Philosophical Foundations of Education course Read More »
My fourth and final contribution to contest, my earlier three being from John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, and Aristotle. I am surprised that we have no entries from Hegel, Fichte, or Heidegger, noted for their why-say-it-in-eight-words-when-sixty-are-available tendencies. But to my knowledge, the longest sentence written by a philosopher is the following 309-word original from the
Philosophy’s longest sentences, part 4 Read More »
Steve Jobs on integrity: “When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.
Links to my syllabi, readings, PowerPoints, video lectures, and other supporting materials. Jump to: Biomedical Ethics (PHIL 256) * Business and Economic Ethics (PHIL 325) * Philosophy of Science (PHIL 330) Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 103) * Modern Intellectual History (HIST 103) * Contemporary European Philosophy (PHIL 313) * Philosophy of Art (PHIL 349) *