On Being “Open Minded” – Pt. 1

The culture of our contemporary anglophone world, to my eye, seems ordered toward the ideal of ‘toleration.’ There is much wrapped up in this claim, but the general thrust is that we believe in some form of individualism and therefore want to allow each person to pursue life as he or she sees fit –Continue reading “On Being “Open Minded” – Pt. 1″

A Reflection on What Moves Us: Power & Force

In what is, in my view, one of the most audacious works of political theory written in the twentieth century, The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt formulates a distinction between two ways in which human beings relate to one another: power & force. This pairing is specified by her to have a meaning that is notContinue reading “A Reflection on What Moves Us: Power & Force”

Specific Acts, Constitutive Identities, and the Religious

When I first reembraced my Faith, I had about a two or three week period when I went to the church nearest my apartment to pray for about thirty minutes each morning in the daily services. I did this because I did not know how to pray (I still do not, really, but now IContinue reading “Specific Acts, Constitutive Identities, and the Religious”

Some Notes on Humour

You know – nostalgia just isn’t what it used to be… A somewhat niche topic of interest to me has been the philosophy of humour. It is not a booming field, and I recognize that many people do not like to critically unpack jokes – I am sure many of us have had the gruelingContinue reading “Some Notes on Humour”

The Terrible Noise

Heavy does rest stillness when one’s alone;Leaving the world apart, now lesser known. But do we truly leave? For it follows us in, that horrible sound of it allthat ever emits from dawn to nightfall; yet – no less – so in darkness, it swallowsup anything refusing to conform.Locked here within, no possible retreat, toContinue reading “The Terrible Noise”