Tag: materialism

5,334 words

Part 1

But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself, I pervade and support this entire universe.
—Bhagavad Gita 10:42 (more…)

2,996 words

First they came for elves, and I remained silent because I never met an elf. Then they came for Gods, and I remained silent because I never felt their presence. Then they came for ghosts, and I remained silent because I never saw a ghost. Then they came for consciousness, and I did not exist.
– Unknown mortal (more…)

Edmund Husserl

6,312 words

Leo Strauss credited Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology as a critical resource for his project of overthrowing modern political thought and vindicating the ancients. Strauss’s late essay, “Philosophy as Rigorous Science and Political Philosophy”[1] as well as posthumously published lectures and correspondence reveal significant debts to Husserl. Husserl was not, moreover, a mere “negative influence” — i.e., someone whose ideas Strauss rejected. Husserl was a “positive influence,” meaning that Strauss accepted and incorporated some of his ideas. (more…)

1,705 words

It was said by sages of old that matter is an illusion — not because it “isn’t real,” whatever that means, but rather because it is always in motion and always changing. Therefore, as soon as one perceives and understands its state it has already changed, and the idea one has about it is no longer true. At best, one perceives what it was, but never what it is. (more…)

11,114 words

Mr. Reagan is not going to make it to the year 1987, I can tell you that much. Now you mark that down.

— Brother Stair, 1987

We don’t reckon time the same way, do we, Clarice?

— Silence of the Lambs

(more…)

2,713 words

Embalming fluid and American politics. The connection? I am thinking specifically of Joe “the Thing” Biden for reasons that are obvious or soon will be. But the starting point for the discussion should begin with Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, also known as Lenin.  (more…)

5,090 words

Part 1 here, Part 3 here

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is in the public domain. You can watch it here.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is best remembered today for being the film that launched the career of Rudolf Valentino. (more…)

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…)

1,899 words

Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 was first published 68 years ago, and the first film adaptation was produced in 1966, but its messages remain surprisingly relevant today. Although many interpreted it as merely a story about government censorship, Bradbury himself characterized the work as a statement on the dumbing-down effect of television. (more…)

Frederic Remington, The Bronco Buster, 1895.

6,316 words

Gen. Turgidson: Now, wouldn’t that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?

Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race.

“Is ‘Short Time Preference’ Really Such a Problem?” by Eumaios, apart from its own considerable merits, was particularly interesting for me — and I suppose some of my Constant Readers — due to his reduplication of a number of the most characteristic formulations of the midcentury Barbadian mystic Neville. [1]  (more…)

2,503 words

Amid the social turmoil of the late 1960s, the German Communist student Rudi Dutschke called for a “long march through the institutions” as the preferred strategy of ensuring the victory of global Marxist revolution. The success of this initiative is no more prominent in the West than in today’s academia, where Frankfurt School (more…)

Have I gotta deal for you!

152 words / 16:53, 21:12, 18:31

“The Bernie Bro Question, Part 1: Exit Stage Left“

To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”

“The Bernie Bro Question, Part 2: Rebels Without a Candidate”  (more…)

2,993 words

*Trav takes long drag from cigarette*
The Optics War?
*Trav exhales long plume of smoke*
Yeah, kid. I was there.
*Commence flashback sequence, cue late ’60s acid rock* (more…)