Now that Feist is popular, she plays rock songs. Her previous record was full of sad, depressed love songs. But, conversely, in the old days she was a real rock star at her concerts, whereas today she’s much more controlled – perhaps the stress of fame? Whatever the reason, she just doesn’t let [...]
Archive for March, 2008
When Feist was a Rock Star
Posted in Art, Music on March 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Extremely short version of previous post
Posted in Uncategorized on March 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It is not the case that statement A is equivalent to statement B
A) It is not the case that (it is a moral law to steal when you will not be caught.)
B) It is the case that (it is a moral law not to steal when you will not be caught.)
A tries out a maxim [...]
Are there laws of practical reason?
Posted in Ethics, writing on March 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
People often read Kant as giving a principle of pure reason from which rational laws of pure practical reason can be deduced. From the moral imperative (which is categorical, not hypothetical, because it applies to people no matter the situation) which has three formulations, we certainly must be able to deduce determinate moral content. [...]
The Warriors are back
Posted in Ethics, Things on March 26, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The original “Warriors” film (opens in a new window) was made in New York in the late 1970s, and it’s refreshing to anyone become use to the current hollywood approach to violence. While the theme of the film is exceedingly violent, the portrayal is leniant and comical – you don’t witness the brutal violence. It’s [...]
What’s wrong with secularism today
Posted in Ethics, God, Philosophy, Technology on March 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Flipping through “Walrus” today, I found a review of Charles Taylor’s new book: “A Secular Age”. Apparently, Taylor shifts the question concerning religion in the present context “away from whether belief in God or some higher power is reasonable to whether belief or unbelief are appropriate interpretations of one’s experience in the world”(71-72). This is [...]
Waiting for the gallery to open
Posted in Art, Body Phenomenology, beginning, writing on March 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This morning I walked from my home at Spadina and Bernard to the PowerPlant gallery at Waterfront centre. The winter has not rescinded – wind and cold makes it feel more like late fall than early spring. The temperature has risen above zero, if only slghtly, and that’s [...]
Want to see something Crazy?
Posted in Pragmatics, beginning on March 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
These are my new shoes. I threw out my old ones at the store (they were entirely worn out, hurt my feet, and I have another extra pair which likely hurt my feet less). They are rediculous! Yellow and gray – and they squish as you walk, it’s like walking on air. They are my [...]
Merleau Ponty on Real and Illusory Love
Posted in Body Phenomenology, Philosophy on March 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Citing from the “Cogito” chapter of “Phenomenology of Perception”, my translation.
It is already manifest that we can distinguish in ourselves between sentiments that are “true” and those which are “false”, so that all that is felt by us and in ourselves does not find itself on one plane of [...]
Jet Fuel
Posted in Music, Things, coffee on March 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“Jet Fuel” is a coffee shop in the cabbagetown region of Toronto. Three things make it distinctive.
a)Mixed coffee drinks (i.e. mocha, americano, etc…) come in pint glasses.
b)Only espresso drinks (no drip, perculated or pressed coffee)
c)It sponsors cycle racing.
It’s excellent for a number of other reasons as well. It has an excellent sitting/table area in the [...]
On Kant’s divergence from Plato
Posted in Being, Ethics, Pragmatics, Technology, writing on March 20, 2008 | 8 Comments »
It is quite popular today to say that according to our scientific models, the world proceeds according to causal law. And therefore, either an interaction is caused, or it is random, and in either case human freedom fails to appear.
This is something of a paradox, because the formulation of the defeat of freedom itself [...]
