Tag: free will

Giacomo Balla, Science Against Obscurantism, 1920

6,034 words

Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here

1. Metaphysics, Natural Science, and Nihilism

My last essay ended with the observation that there are clear points of convergence between Kant’s thought and Heidegger’s. (more…)

1,503 words

For years now, readers have been urging me to review Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), which adapts Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel of the same name. I have resisted, because although A Clockwork Orange is often hailed as a classic, I thought it was dumb, distasteful, and highly overrated, so I didn’t want to watch it again. But I had first watched it decades ago. (more…)

Frank Herbert

4,241 words

Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965) is one of the masterpieces of science fiction, far eclipsing its five sequels in readership and reputation. But I wish to argue that the third and fourth Dune books, Children of Dune (1976) and God Emperor of Dune (1981), are equally audacious works of the imagination. [1] Both volumes tend to be underrated, partly due to the long shadow of Dune, partly because the sheer scope of Herbert’s vision boggles the mind, (more…)

2,053 words

Gattaca (1997) is a dystopian science fiction movie set sometime in the mid-21st century. Mankind is doing a lot of manned space exploration. Genetic engineering and zygote selection have eliminated major and minor genetic problems, from mental illness to baldness. As a smiling black man who works as a eugenics counselor explains to a pair of prospective parents, the children produced by these techniques “are still you, just the best of you.” (more…)

Ludwig Burger, The Norns under the World, 1882.

1,584 words

For Easter dinner, I had a glass of red wine, a pizza, and a slice of cheesecake. Regardless of my location, it has become a tradition for me. With the current pandemic, a heavy metal concert, and a first date in Ukraine, I have somehow ended up celebrating Easter each year with wine, pizza, and cheesecake. Perhaps it is fate. Yet it was a dinner with friends three years ago that made me question the many nuances of fate. Could an invitation to that dinner have saved a man’s life from tragedy, or would his life have taken the same path? (more…)

4,811 words

When my father died last month, we had not spoken since Christmas. A few terse emails were exchanged, but that was it. You see, over Christmas dinner my father had revealed that he was contributing money to the SPLC. This didn’t exactly sit well with me. (more…)

4,276 words

Socrates

Part 1 of 2

The concept of philosophical dialectic is quite mysterious and intimidating. Even among professional philosophers, dialectic often has connotations of mysticism, obscurantism, and slight of hand. I wish to dispel this aura. I will lay out the elements of philosophical dialectic by looking at specific arguments in Plato’s Republic[1] and Hegel’s Philosophy of Right[2] and then employ Heidegger’s account of the hermeneutic circle Being and Time and Husserl’s account of the logic of parts and wholes in his Logical Investigations to clarify the dialectical process.  (more…)

Leonardo Da Vinci, Vitruvian Man

5,572 words

This essay begins my introduction to one of the single most treacherous topics in modern political life.

That topic is essentially a scientific one, rather than a political one—although in order to see this we may have to put some very prevalent philosophical and political misconceptions aside. As such, this series is going to be somewhat more dry in tone than some of my other writing—certainly much more than many of the other essays collected at Counter-Currents.  (more…)

Norns by J. L. Lund (1777-1867)

4,683 words

English original here

1. O Problema

Nós temos “livre-arbítrio”? Certamente isso me parece que eu livremente escolho o que eu faço em vida, com respeito a coisas tanto maiores quanto menores. Minha decisão de graduar no colégio, por exemplo, certamente parece ter sido feito livremente, sem nenhuma coerção de outros. (more…)

Norns by J. L. Lund (1777-1867)

4,748 words

Portuguese translation here

1. The Problem

Do we have “free will”? It certainly seems to me that I freely choose what I do in life, with respect to things both major and minor. My decision to go to graduate school, for example, certainly seems to have been one that I made freely, without anyone or anything coercing me. (more…)