But this probably means a lot of people are mistakenly buying my books, right?
It’s a really weird week to have this name
New paper on Sellars and Davidson
Out recently from Routledge, Sellars and Davidson in Dialogue: Truth, Meanings, and Minds:
Including my “Who Needs You? Sellars and Davidson on the Social Character of Thought and Meaning”:
The orthodox view among Western philosophers, psychologists, and other scientists has long been that any shared, public qualities of intentional states are not fundamental or explanatory. While we do interact and share thoughts with others, the content of those states and the possibility of having them does not require the existence of other persons or interaction with them. It’s nice to have someone to talk to, but not a necessary condition for intentional states like ours. Donald Davidson and Wilfrid Sellars bucked this trend, insisting upon the necessity of other persons for various features of intentional states. They share this divergence despite considerable differences between their projects. This chapter will make the case that they are right to take this approach, though Sellars’ work provides us with a clearer path to it. While Davidson’s triangulation account rightly suggests that concern for objectivity in one’s beliefs necessitates attention to other perspectives, Sellars’ emphasis on shared commitments show why this should involve other persons rather than simply further information.
Even for a method as poor as the Bitterness Bracket, this was a bad year.
The red is bad.
It’s highly probable that I’m the only person in the world with this problem
I am now getting semi-regular calls to my office phone number from a robocaller in Deming, New Mexico.
And every single time it comes up, I start hearing this track in my head.
If someone more VOIP savvy than I knows how to make this track play back to their machine whenever it calls, hit me up.
The Peter Brötzmann Tentet T-Shirt Story
I still wear an N95 mask indoors and in large groups of people. This makes me somewhat conspicuous, which in turn makes me somewhat self-conscious. I live in a pretty red part of a purple state (as we say in American politics) in which such choices are regularly taken up in partisan politics. Thus, most trips outside the house feel ripe for confrontation, which probably makes me a little more sharp-elbowed even when nothing is afoot.
Recently, I went to our local farmers’ market on a Thursday afternoon.
Doing some experimental pragmatics in the hallway outside my office today.
For science.
Konietzko Flash Defined
Konietzko Flash | kōˈnētskō fllaSH | noun
a psychological event, acute in its onset and accompanied by intense anger, in which a person realizes that the woman they dated back in 1994 was the one who stole their now-out-of-print KMFDM albums, goddammit; typically followed by an urge to drive to South Carolina and get the CDs back
“What’s up with Michael?”
“Oh, he’s having a Konietzko Flash.”
“Is… is that why he’s stealing my car?”
WNJR interview
Hey there! Are you stuck in an airport for an hour and a half waiting for a connecting flight? Are you trapped down a well, but still have wifi somehow? Then you’ll want to check out this interview I did with Sam Stewart on WNJR last week. Featuring me and my thoughts on teaching, philosophy, language, John Coltrane, how to distinguish groove metal from thrash metal, and why the 2023 Philadelphia Phillies are not a baseball team, but rather are 26 wolverines trapped in a bathroom.
ALL HAIL THE BITTERNESS BRACKET!!!!!!
Clearly the greatest sports analytic system ever developed.
Philosophy of Language: 50… out now from Routledge
This book offers readers a collection of 50 short chapter entries on topics in the philosophy of language. Each entry addresses a paradox, a longstanding puzzle, or a major theme that has emerged in the field from the last 150 years, tracing overlap with issues in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, ethics, political philosophy, and literature. Each of the 50 entries is written as a piece that can stand on its own, though useful connections to other entries are mentioned throughout the text. Readers can open the book and start with almost any of the entries, following themes of greatest interest to them. Each entry includes recommendations for further reading on the topic.
And even more than brassy, public self-promotion, I’m a believer in unchecked, enthusiastic acknowledgments when others contribute to my work. On that score, here’s that bit of front matter:
Continue reading Philosophy of Language: 50… out now from Routledge
I appear to be a counterexample. 