Allan Ramsey, David Hume, 1766.
5,513 words
2020 was a bad year for David Hume (1711-1776). Leftists in the United Kingdom, eager to get in on the feast of outrage that followed the drug overdose of George Floyd, complained that David Hume was a racist and should therefore not be revered. And then things went more or less as you would expect. (more…)
1974 West German Bundespost stamp, commemorating Kant’s 250th birthday
5,568 words
Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here
1. Introduction
In the previous essay in this series, we saw Heidegger claiming that Leibniz “prepares” the completion of the metaphysical tradition, but that it is Nietzsche who actually brings it about. I will devote a future essay to Heidegger’s interpretation of Nietzsche, but we may note here that the completion of metaphysics would have been impossible without Kant, who answers Leibniz and inadvertently prepares the way for Nietzsche. (more…)
Mr. Gurdjieff
7,589 words
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was born on this day in 1866, 1872, or 1877 — depending on whom you ask. [1] Much else about his biography is equally uncertain. We do know that his father was Greek, his mother Armenian, and that he was born in Alexandropol which was then part of the Russian Empire (it is now in Armenia and is called Gyumri). (more…)
2,530 words
Lorraine Daston
Against Nature
Cambridge: MIT Press, 2019
Loraine Daston’s Against Nature has two qualities that make it a good book. First, it is physically a good book: slim but well-bound, it fits comfortably in the hand and slides easily into the pocket. And there is more than tactile pleasure to be had. (more…)
Gerrit van Honthorst, Croesus y Solon, 1624
2,271 words
English original here
Los dos ensayos de Carl Schmitt sobre “La Tiranía de los Valores” (1959 y 1967) son típicos de su trabajo. Contienen simples e iluminadoras ideas las cuales, sin embargo, son complicadas de poner en conjunto porque Schmitt las presenta sólo a través de conversaciones complejas con otros pensadores y escuelas de pensamiento. (more…)
Gerrit van Honthorst, Croesus and Solon, 1624
2,108 words
Spanish translation here
Carl Schmitt’s two essays on “The Tyranny of Values” (1959 and 1967) are typical of his work. They contain simple and illuminating ideas which are nevertheless quite difficult to piece together because Schmitt presents them only through complex conversations with other thinkers and schools of thought. (more…)
1,493 words
The duel to the death over honor is a remarkable phenomenon. Animals duel over dominance, which insures their access to mates. But these duels result in death only by accident, because the whole process is governed by their survival instincts, and their “egos” do not prevent them from surrendering when the fight is hopeless. (more…)
2,810 words
Part 5 of 5
Chapter I
Minor Addenda and Varia
I have never met a gambler with an ounce of intelligence, but the prejudice against lotteries is in the category of superstitions, totemism and taboo. Lotteries can harm only the imbeciles who buy tickets, but these imbeciles appear to be wholly in their own right. (more…)
Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ, "Demosthenes Practicing Oratory," 1870
3,389 words
There is a vast gulf between oratory, on the one hand, and public speaking on the other.
By oratory I mean the art of speaking in the style we associate with great orators of the Western past, not elaborate, formal, public discourses treating important topics in a stiff, formal, or dignified manner.
