Category Archives: Existentialism

The Denial of Death

I’ve long believed fear of death is the driving force behind almost everything we do, particularly Culture-writ-large. And when it comes to culture, the magnitude of that driving force is proportionally related to how sublimated that fear of death is. … Continue reading

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On Being Human in an Age of Distraction

Gracy Olmstead reviews Matthew Crawford’s book The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction: The subtitle to his latest book promises a look at our “age of distraction.” There have been a plethora of … Continue reading

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Behavioural Economics Bummer

In its predictive power and future for marketers in the fields of commerce and politics, the field of behavioural economics is… depressing… Depressing in that a science will likely evolve with an evermore powerful and nuanced ability to predict, for … Continue reading

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The Soul of the Marionette

From a review of John Gray’s new book The Soul of the Marionette: In The Soul of the Marionette, however, Gray makes a profound observation when he points out that at present the faith most educated people hold to, especially … Continue reading

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The Trip Treatment

The New Yorker has an in-depth look at medical research into psilocybin’s therapeutic affects. Rod Dreher has a thoughtful essay on the subject. The New Yorker piece includes this video of one cancer survivor’s experiences:

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The Plight of the Individual in Modern Society

Most people confuse “self-knowledge” with knowledge of their conscious ego-personalities. Anyone who has any ego-consciousness at all takes it for granted that he knows himself. But the ego knows only its own contents, not the unconscious and its contents. People … Continue reading

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Birdman (2014)

I haven’t been this excited for a movie since… I don’t know when. Michael Keaton as ‘Birdman’… a not-altogether-hidden, nor irrelevant nod to Keaton’s Batman… and then a no longer hot commodity, practically disappearing from the big budget movie scene … Continue reading

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Heidegger’s Philosophy… in the Kitchen

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Is Heidegger Contaminated By Nazism?

Here’s a Tribe Trifecta: Joshua Rothman, writing in The New Yorker, about Heidegger’s “anti-semitism” (“Is Heidegger Contaminated By Nazism?“). After praising Heidegger’s philosophy, and noting the profound influence it’s had on him personally, Rothman gets to the monstrous side of … Continue reading

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True Detective: Doubters

Jon Baskin has a nice essay on philosophy in True Detective. After reviewing some of the snooty dismissals of the show’s philosophical engagements, Baskin defends the show’s overt philosophizing: Although True Detective has sometimes been criticized for failing to offer … Continue reading

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