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Normism: The Philosophy of Norm Macdonald, a short book I wrote about the late great comedian, is available on Amazon.
Search Results for: scientism
Wieseltier vs. Scientism
In “Crimes Against Humanities“, Leon Wieseltier critiques the crude scientism Steven Pinker recently put on display in a much-talked about article: A few weeks ago this magazine published a small masterpiece of scientizing apologetics by Steven Pinker, called “Science Is … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Scientism
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Wieseltier on Scientism
Many of my forays into philosophy on this blog will involve pointing out the dangerous dogmatism of scientism. Here’s Leon Wieseltier on the subject: Our glittering age of technologism is also a glittering age of scientism. Scientism is not the … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Scientism
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The Deniers
Esteemed philosopher Galen Strawson has a very good piece on the poverty of materialism as an explanation for consciousness (“The Consciousness Deniers”). He traces the lineage from early behaviorism to Dennett-style functionalism, leading to the absurdity that is reductive materialism: … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Political Theory, Scientism
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Axiomatic Conservatism vs. Holistic Conservatism
I recently read Michael Oakeschott’s very influential long form essay “Rationalism in Politics” (1947), which properly argues against the Axiomatic Rationalism underlying various ideologies from Marxism to Libertarianism. The attempt to build a system of governance from the ‘ground up’ … Continue reading
Posted in Political Theory
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RIP: Hilary Putnam
A giant of late 20th century analytic philosophy has passed away: The American philosopher Hilary Putnam, who has died aged 89, transformed the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language, metaphysics and epistemology. By focusing on the role, rather than … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish, Philosophy
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Gaps in the Grammar of the Universe
Jag Bhalla has an excellent, brief, Tractatus-outlined piece on the limits of scientism, the indeterminateness of language and its metaphysical inscrutability. (“Gaps in the Grammar of the Universe?“) Does our grasp of the grammar of the universe have gaps? Is … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Scientism
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Tom Wolfe: Our Canary Centurion
I’ve long believed Tom Wolfe has possessed an uncanny ability to predict the national zeitgeist in a ‘canary in the coalmine’ sort of way: from ‘radical chic’, to the ideological scientism of contemporary neuroscience, to fictional antecedents of the BLM … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Death of the West, Literature
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The Neuroscience of Despair
In “The Neuroscience of Despair“, Michael Begun applies philosophical anti-scientism (i.e., the reductionism inherent in neurobiological ‘total explanations’ of conscious phenomena, that is, the materialist philosophical position known as scientism) to the issue of clinical depression: “Together with the popular … Continue reading
Posted in Psychology, Scientism
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Ross Douthat: How to Study the Numinous
Ross Douthat has an excellent ‘philosophy of mind’-oriented piece in his latest column (“How to Study the Numinous“): In an op-ed in the Sunday edition of this newspaper, Barbara Ehrenreich, card-carrying liberal rationalist, writes about her own mystical experiences (the … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy of Mind
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God, Hayek & the Conceit of Reason
In Standpoint magazine, Jonathan Neumann has an excellent article on Hayek’s argument against scientism (“God, Hayek and the Conceit of Reason“).
Posted in Political Theory, Scientism
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