Quixotic Musings

Thoughts on Socialism vis-à-vis André Gorz

A quick collection of thoughts on André Gorz’s collection of essays, “Capitalism, Socialism, and Ecology”...

The NFL: Entertainment vs. Fact

A reflection suggesting that in the background of the NFL’s recently announced decision regarding Player Protest of the National Anthem is rooted in a desire to preserve an entertaining narrative despite its incompatibility with certain facts on the ground.

Gabriel Marcel and the Dilemmas of Creative Fidelity

A response to an essay of Gabriel Marcel on Creative Fidelity, remaking upon his distinction between fidelity or faith and constancy, noting how the latter is of an ambiguous character.

Existentialism’s Relevance

A consideration of Existentialism’s relevance in the light of a general public discourse which minimizes the significance of our freedom or agency in responding to the situations in which we find ourselves...

Gabriel Marcel and Fanaticized Consciousness

In this episode, we consider moments in Gabriel Marcel’s analysis of fanaticism in his book, “Man Against Mass Society.”

Is Life a Problem or a Mystery?

A review of Gabriel Marcel’s distinction between treating life as a problem or treating our life as a mystery...

Gabriel Marcel and the Challenge of Hope...

A very brief recap of the crucial suggestion of Gabriel Marcel’s essay on Hope... namely, that to endeavor to assess hope in terms of probabilities is to misunderstand the experiential ground whence it springs...

March 17, 2018

Gabriel Marcel and the Perils of Abstraction

A recollection of Gabriel Marcel’s remarks about how abstraction can serve the dangerous dishonesty which is fundamental to warfare...

Simone Weil and Force in War...

A sequel, brief consideration of Simone Weil’s thoughts on the effects of Force in the context of war...

March 16, 2018

Back on anchor.

A quick announcement of my return, and intentions for forthcoming episodes...

Thoughts on Michael Polanyi

A consideration of Michael Polanyi's tiered ontology and its implications for positivism...

More from Marcuse again. :)

A reflection on the hazards of myopia which sets in with the birth of scientific perspective in Galileo as glosses by Herbert Marcuse...

Logic of Thought & Domination

A review of the major themes in Chapter 5 of One Dimensional Man in which Marcuse tracks the development of formal logic as leading to a logic of domination...

Optimism and Existentialism!

Some thoughts on the grounding of optimism in the indeterminacy of human essence or nature described by existentialism...

On Positivity and Intelligence

Some quick thoughts on the connection between optimism and intelligence

Assimilation:art 2 commodity

A recap of some salient themes in the third chapter of Herbert Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man"...

Closing the political universe

A very brief recap of the major theme of the second chapter of Herbert Marcuse's One Dimensional Man, namely, the technological suffocation of the political by subordinating freedom to pleasure...

One Dimensional Man - Intro

An examination on the themes in he books introduction, looking at how emotional intensity can blind us to how we conspire in the creation of the very problems we seek to solve...

Reading "One Dimensional Man"

A recapitulation of themes from the first chapter of Herbert Marcuse's 1964 book, "One-Dimensional Man", looking at, among other things, the implications of the technological...

Thoughts on AlphaGo and AI

Taking cues from Herbert Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man", we look at operationalism, it's relation to the form/content dyed, and how plays out for AI vis-à-vis Google's program AlphaGo...

Opening Thoughts

Some opening thoughts... and preliminary remarks on "The One-Dimensional Man"