Latest links…
- “We still know the difference between feeling good and flourishing… Yes, we often speak as if feelings are all that count, but maybe that’s because the language of the ‘good life’ has been hollowed out” — Kwame Anthony Appiah on happiness
- “What makes a theory of some property P superficial (or deep)?” — Jeremy Pober and Eric Schwitzgebel on the distinction between superficial and deep theories
- “By seeking to deport me, the Trump administration is sending a clear message: There is no room for dissent, free speech be damned” — a NYT op-ed by Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia philosophy student who was abducted by ICE
- “The philosopher was right. But not without an extraordinary—and revealing—effort on the part of consciousness researchers and theorists” — a look at the “adversarial collaboration” comparing two theories of consciousness
- “I am looking to laughter to provide that elasticity of the spirit which is stamina itself” — “We tried moral escalation before,” says Mary Townsend, thinking about how to respond to Trump. “It didn’t work.”
- “if performance / is the standard, / we lose now / or lose later” — a poem from philosopher Philip Bold
- “The reasoning man who scorns the prejudices of simpletons necessarily becomes the enemy of simpletons, he must expect as much, and laugh at the inevitable” — the Marquis de Sade is “interviewed” about his philosophy by Richard Marshall
Mini-Heap posts usually appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, a collection of items from around the web that may be of interest to philosophers. The Heap of Links consists partly of suggestions from readers; if you find something online that you think would be of interest to the philosophical community, please send it in for consideration for the Heap. Thank you.
Previous Edition
Today is the birthday of Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939). I have gathered together the relevant literature that should enable one to appreciate psychoanalysis in both philosophical and scientific terms (the latter, as a modern ‘science of subjectivity’). Freud himself was of course well-read in philosophy and the humanities more widely. Psychoanalysis might be plausibly considered one of the three principal “therapies of desire,” the other two being philosophical and religious (or ‘spiritual’). The philosopher John Cottingham (who happens to be Catholic), has written about the relevance of psychoanalysis to both religious worldviews and philosophy. Please see: Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939).