The whole point about metaphors is that some are much better than others. It makes sense to say the world shook when the Berlin Wall fell, not that it danced, slept or cooked. Nietzsche said concepts were “merely the residue of a metaphor” but there is nothing mere about it. Believing words to be metaphorical did not prevent him from choosing his very carefully indeed. We should do the same.
ReadOliver Sacks had the expertise of a neuroscientist, the mind of a philosopher and the voice of a poet. Excelling in all three domains, he was one of those rare writers and thinkers who was able to to make us see ourselves differently.
ReadToo many guides for novices are pedestrian trudges through the key names and topics in a subject. Like the best introductions, this is more manifesto than textbook, making a convincing case for its subject by explaining why it is both important and interesting. There is no better, clearer case for why both science and philosophy matter and why neither can replace the other.
ReadEmotions are assumed to be beyond our control, ebbing and flowing in anarchic independence from the rational mind. But if we question the judgments that lie behind our emotions, we will often find that those feelings do, indeed, change. We can help the way we feel, if the way we feel flows from a mistaken judgment that we can correct.
ReadPhilosophers have tended to have an inflated sense of their ability to “follow the argument wherever it leads”, as Plato’s old saw has it. What matters is the argument, not the arguer, which means there is no need even to think about gender or ethnicity. Philosophers have thus felt immune to the distorting effects of gender bias. Logic is gender-neutral, philosophy is logical, ergo philosophy is gender-neutral. I suspect this has led to complacency, a blindness towards all the ways in which, in fact, gender bias does creep in.
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