Adding philosophical depth to anything and everything
My article from three years ago “The Problem with the Transgender Label” asked a question some people don’t want asked: does that label cause more problems than it solves? It remains one of my most-read articles with mostly positive responses. Unfortunately, the larger world is still fighting over the label […]
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Capitalism is an economic system that has both passionate defenders and fierce critics. But both sides in the debates over capitalism’s beneficial and harmful affects tend to conflate capitalism with free enterprise. Much of the defense of capitalism takes the positives of free enterprise and incorrectly attributes them to capitalism […]
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Frantz Fanon on Being Black “I am black; I am in total fusion with the world, in sympathetic affinity with the earth, losing my id in the heart of the cosmos — and the white man, however intelligent he may be, is incapable of understanding Louis Armstrong or songs from […]
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What is racism? Hatred? Yes. Ignorance? Yes. But the hatred spewed within ignorant racist views are symptoms of a deeper dis-ease. We need to call racism what it really is — something larger than any individual but is an emotion that springs from the individual weakness that is bigotry. First, […]
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My new monograph in critical theory has been published. Rethinking Misrecognition and Struggles for Recognition: Critical Theory Beyond Honneth. The book explores the nature of injustices and people’s efforts to gain justice. Here’s the listing description from the publication page: The need for justice for individuals, groups, and society as […]
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It shouldn’t be a political debate, but somehow it is. What should we as a society do in response to the Coronavirus pandemic? Seems obvious to anyone with any humanity: save people’s lives. Bizarrely, some feel we shouldn’t spend efforts to save people’s lives–in particular, right-wingers from the US, UK, […]
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Martin Buber on Encountering Others “When we encounter another individual truly as a person, not as an object for use, we become fully human.” – Martin Buber As a philosopher, my main research focus is on human relations, specifically the theory of recognition. To recognize another person is to value […]
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Trevor Noah is a comedian, but in a deeply personal and thoughtful video released 30 May 2020, he is a philosopher. It’s wonderful. Seriously, it is a brilliant piece of philosophy. You can view it here and even if you don’t read another word of this article, watch his video […]
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Yes, Trump is a terrible president and worse, a terrible human being. But that doesn’t mean I will vote for Biden, because that illusion that we are stuck with only two possible choices is a part of what’s wrong with American politics.
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“If it happened once, it can happen again.” – Primo Levi Not all wisdom is feel-good candy. Harsh truths can be the most important truths. The quote in the graphic above expresses one of the most important facts of our age. The Nazis DID engineer The Holocaust. It DID happened. […]
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