Tag Archives: Montaigne

spEak You’re bRanes

Posted on December 1, 2012 by

I retweeted someone’s prescription for modern times a few months ago: ‘Dance like the photo isn’t being tagged, love like you’ve never been unfriended and tweet like nobody is following.’ My basic social media motto is write what’s right for … Continue reading →

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Take me to your Leader

Posted on August 10, 2012 by

As the Curiosity rover pulled off an improbably complex landing on Mars, I was having a laugh with a friend in the US. I pointed out that it’s the US President’s duty to welcome any extraterrestrial when and if he/she … Continue reading →

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Of Sheds

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

Montaigne offers a top tip for he (or she) who would keep themselves sane: That man, in my opinion, is very miserable, who has not at home where to be by himself, where to entertain himself alone, or to conceal … Continue reading →

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Narrative or Episodic

Posted on April 23, 2012 by

I like (as do many others) the notion of lives as narratives. Interesting then to read a contrary view from my old philosophy tutor Galen Strawson – Against Narrativity. He poses the question: is there really that much evidence that … Continue reading →

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Montaigne on Virtue

Posted on April 10, 2012 by

Three hundred and one dailylit.com episodes of Essays in and Michel de Montaigne serves up another view I 100% agree with, five centuries on. When it comes to ethics the the answer is staring you in the face – in … Continue reading →

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Daubing

Posted on March 17, 2012 by

I read a while ago that physicists were arguing over the wisdom of analysing the complete dataset from the latest probe which is measuring the cosmic microwave background radiation. Why? Because from it we will soon have all the data … Continue reading →

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The Fear of Dying

Posted on December 24, 2011 by

A good friend’s mother died last week. But we went to the footie together on Wednesday, as we’d planned despite – and because of it. We didn’t talk much about it, but talking to others, one of the things in … Continue reading →

Posted in Death, Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Against Idleness

Posted on November 29, 2011 by

A friend and I discussed yesterday whether ‘perpetual activity’ is simply a function of my work and life stage – or is it my underlying temperament. In a previous conversation, he put to me, that the ceaseless activity I observe … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Life, Psychology, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Language

Posted on September 26, 2011 by

Re-reading a chapter of Herbert McCabe’s ‘On Aquinas’ last night, the outline of a new understanding emerged from the complex conceptual haze of the ‘philosophy of language’. Language is the means through which we transcend individual experience and share our … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Language, Life, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Shame There

Posted on September 25, 2011 by

Does seeing cruelty make us more or less likely to engage in it? Catalunya has just banned bullfights. But I saw one in Colombia nearly 20 years ago and felt I could see the nobility in it which Hemingway describes … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment