An Ironist Must Learn to Listen Poetically
While the poet’s goal is to put imaginative notions into another person’s head, ironists instead seek to change themselves.
The Corridor Pragmatism
Why We Won’t Ever Arrive at Truth
A defense of Charles Sanders Peirce and William James against the charge that their asymptotic approaches to truth and hope are juvenile.
Truth as Pragmatism’s Only Hope
Although some pragmatists argue truth is malleable and constantly changing, logician Charles Sanders Peirce asserts it is our knowledge of truth that is variable, not truth itself.
What Do I Hope from Pragmatism?
Pragmatism is an uncertain and pluralistic philosophy, but its malleability and modesty make it an incredibly hope-filled approach to life.
Dewey and Rorty: Sending Pragmatist Hopes in New Directions
Contrasting with hope in a fixed or eternal order, pragmatists John Dewey and Richard Rorty connect hope to continual growth and conversation.
What Can Pragmatists Hope for in a Boundless World?
While pragmatists accept the tragic and boundless nature of a constantly changing and foundationless reality, William James offers hope in a naturalized theism.
The Town Square
Your Job and Cancer Are Nothing: Part II
As a recently laid-off academic becomes more immersed in a sangha, he tries to reconcile his newfound zazen practice with his western background.
Tribes and Tribulations
This Is Technopoly
Embedded into every tool is an ideological bias, and unless we continually re-evaluate new technologies, we may end up within a technopoly.
Rortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth
In defending liberalism, the philosopher Richard Rorty argues that there is no difference—in practice—between aiming at justification and aiming at something more called truth.
American Democracy and Its Broken Bargaining Tables
American politics is in peril. Now is the time to replace our broken bargaining tables with more deliberative democracy.
Could the COVID Pandemic Spark a Cash Benefits Revolution?
For low-income families, the move toward direct, broad cash benefits might prove to have a long-lasting impact once the COVID pandemic ends.
Trust in an Age of Reactionaries and Revolutionaries
Rather than view recent political failings as flaws inherent to liberalism, we might be better served by focusing on the decline in trust.
This Emotional Life
‘The School of Life’ Preaches Pessimism over Romanticism
‘The School of Life’ is on a crusade to avail us of our emotional ignorance. Philosopher Alain De Botton seeks to remedy the shortcomings of contemporary education systems and the institutions that have failed to instruct us in how to approach the big questions in life.
Wilderness Lost
Sages and Stoics
Is ‘Know Thyself’ the Greatest Delphic Maxim We Know?
We’re familiar with ‘know thyself’ as one of the highest commands of philosophy, but we’d be remiss if we ignored the other Delphic maxims.
