Gradiance: The Mother of all Reductions

Article connecting a wide variety of ideas and experiences (music, mysticism, phenomenology) around Carnot’s second law of thermodynamics and its philosophical implications .

Article connecting a wide variety of ideas and experiences (music, mysticism, phenomenology) around Carnot’s second law of thermodynamics and its philosophical implications .

Philosophy, Religion, Mysticism and Madness

Blog reflecting on madness, philosophy, civilization, and the future of consciousness with the help of Kant, Husserl, Heidegger, Jaynes and Krishnamurti.

Blog reflecting on madness, philosophy, civilization, and the future of consciousness with the help of Kant, Husserl, Heidegger, Jaynes and Krishnamurti.

Modernity Between the Rise and Fall of the Cartesian Cogito

  Introduction. In this blog I will compress into a short story my proposed periodization of Modernity, bookended by the Renaissance and Post-modernity. My idiosyncratic idea is to place the start of modernity in 1620 and its end in 1926. The Start of Modernity in 1620 The choice of 1620 has two reasons. First, it … Continue reading “Modernity Between the Rise and Fall of the Cartesian Cogito”

The Cultural History of Inner Mind Space

The Historical Development of the Inner Mind Space in Terms of the Overlap between a Jaynesian Concept of Consciousness and Narrative Identity Theory Excerpt from dissertation: “The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity“.  Though I intended to include much more Jaynesian theory, I think these two sections will be most accessible for Jaynesians. The rest is … Continue reading “The Cultural History of Inner Mind Space”

The Tacit Dimension Operative in Phenomenology

By Govert Schuller CONTENTS Abstract § 1. The question about taciticy in phenomenological perspective § 2. The tacitly pre-supposed in science § 3. The tacitly pre-supposed in theology § 4. The tacitly pre-supposed in metaphysics § 5. The non-elective dimension of science and rationality § 6. The nonsensicallity of the question from an analytic viewpoint … Continue reading “The Tacit Dimension Operative in Phenomenology”

The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity

The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity Each of us constructs and lives a ‘narrative’ . . . this narrative is us, our identities — Oliver Sacks This dissertation is the fruit of my research on the concept of narrative identity, i.e. the claim that our sense of self is structured like a story. While investigating … Continue reading “The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity”

Nietzsche’s Reluctant Acceptance of Liberal Democracy (and later Rejection)

The questions to be addressed in this essay are 1) whether we can extract from Nietzsche’s book Human, All Too Human, which was written in his more moderate science-oriented middle period, something of a political view; 2) whether this view can be construed, with some hedging here and there, as supporting modern liberal democracy; and 3) whether Nietzsche’s qualified endorsement, or maybe better formulated, reluctant acceptance of liberal democracy can be found in his other works.

The questions to be addressed in this essay are 1) whether we can extract from Nietzsche’s book Human, All Too Human, which was written in his more moderate science-oriented middle period, something of a political view; 2) whether this view can be construed, with some hedging here and there, as supporting modern liberal democracy; and 3) whether Nietzsche’s qualified endorsement, or maybe better formulated, reluctant acceptance of liberal democracy can be found in his other works.

Foucault’s Concept Discipline: A Systematic Analysis

Graduate Essay by Govert Schuller Introduction In this essay I will primarily focus on the pivotal Foucauldian concept of discipline as developed in his influential 1975 study Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (hereafter DP). The plan of the paper is to first connect the concept with its immediate neighboring terms, especially punishment … Continue reading “Foucault’s Concept Discipline: A Systematic Analysis”

The Mechanics of Epistemic Contextualism

Graduate Essay by Govert Schuller §1.0. General introduction A few years ago I happened to participate in a class on DeRose’s recent monograph The Case for Contextualism: Knowledge, Skepticism, and Context (vol. 1). We picked the text apart and read also papers by Moore, Unger, Lewis, Kaplan, Perry, Schiffer and a few more. In his … Continue reading “The Mechanics of Epistemic Contextualism”

The Dialectical Gyrations in and between Hegel and Marx

Introduction This paper initially intended to address discussions regarding the importance and scope of an alleged break between the early, philosophical articles of the revolutionary theoretician Karl Marx (1818-1883) and his later, mature historical-materialist socioeconomic investigations. But, because Marx in his early years dealt predominantly with the grand and influential philosophy of the German idealist … Continue reading “The Dialectical Gyrations in and between Hegel and Marx”