It’s not difficult to make people invisible. Just pan out so far that they become the smallest of blips in the immeasurable vastness of time and space, or zoom in so close that they become reduced to bundles of atoms, blindly obeying the rules of physics as purposelessly as space dust. One way reduces us to the particles of which we are made, the other to particles from which the universe is made.
ReadIf men are from Mars and women are from Venus, that would explain why philosophy so often reads like Martian. Both in the UK and the US, women account for only around a fifth of philosophers in the academy, fewer than in most comparable disciplines. Does this suggest there is something essentially masculine about philosophy, that cold, hard logic comes much more naturally to the less touchy-feely sex?
ReadIn philosophy as in science, “mere assertion” is the lower than lowest form of argument, being not more than baseless pontification. Yet in much of everyday life, assertion is king. Much of what passes for discussion of serious issues, for example, is actually little more than people taking it in turns to state their opinions and dismiss those of others. Instead of trying to understand each other, they merely stay quiet and listen for as short a time as is decent before simply resuming their own monologue…
ReadA person who can’t take appropriate comfort in food and drink hasn’t come to terms with their own all-too-human nature. Far from a glass of wine or a slice of cake distracting us from our true, higher nature, they remind us of what we really are.
ReadHaving a preference that you did not choose is the precondition for a meaningful choice. To put it another way, the basis of free choice is choosing whatever it is you prefer, not choosing your preferences.
Read