Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Month: May 2025

A photo of Yankees baseball player Aaron Judge with sunglasses over his hat.

50-Game Rule: 2025 Edition

May 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Once again, we’ll return to the 50-Game Rule to see how things are going in the baseball season. So, how are the Yankees doing after 50 games?

The short answer: they’re doing fine, but not as well as last year.

The longer answer is that they’re doing better than I’d have expected. Yes, they’re only 30-20. But that’s good enough for a 5 game lead in the AL East and second best in the entire American League. Once you account for the fact that ace pitcher Gerrit Cole is sitting out the season with an injury and intended closer Devin Williams has struggled mightily, this is pretty remarkable.

Granted, a major reason why the Yankees are so far ahead in the division is that the rest of the AL East has struggled. The Orioles are inexplicably terrible, and the other three teams are playing .500 ball.

But the Yankees have plenty of merits to highlight. Obviously Aaron Judge is putting up yet another MVP season – one arguably even better than his 2024 season! That’s nothing short of remarkable. But it’s not only Judge. Max Fried has put together a Cy Young worthy season so far, and Luke Weaver stepped into the closer role without problems.

But the pleasant surprise of the season thus far, for me, has been Trent Grisham. The once light hitting Padres center fielder is putting up Juan Soto level numbers in the Bronx. I don’t know if that can last all season, but he has certainly filled the gap left by Soto so far.

Can the Yankees keep it up and compete as one of the best AL teams? The evidence so far suggests they can.

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A meme of a person riding a bicycle and causing himself to crash.

DNC Steps on Own Dick, Again

May 19, 2025 / / 0 Comments

After the 2016 and 2020 primary losses, many Bernie Sanders supporters argued that the DNC ‘rigged’ the primaries, costing the Bern the win.

The argument wasn’t a good one. DNC leaders certainly favored Hillary Clinton in 2016. And they certainly opposed Sanders in 2020, even if they weren’t necessary thrilled by Joe Biden. In 2016, in particular, there was even evidence that they put their thumb on the scales in certain ways.

As I’ve argued many times, though, the ‘rigged’ accusations amounted to excuse making from left and progressive electoralist camps. The biggest reason Sanders lost in 2016 and 2020 is that the left has been at a historical weak point for years. We haven’t yet done the base-building needed to become powerful enough for a credible presidential campaign.

But that’s not the point of this post. The point is that the DNC always manages to step on its own dick. Even when the things it does don’t really have a major impact, it always manages to look like it’s engaged in some kind of fuckery.

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A photo of Sycamore Hall, home of the philosophy department of Indiana University.

Philosophy, Bloomington, and J.L. Austin, Part 2

May 12, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Four years ago, I wrote a blog post about the book Austin’s Way with Skepticism, by Indiana University philosopher Mark Kaplan. You can read it here. However, more broadly, the post was about a certain time in my life. It was about the time I spent at IU in Bloomington, Indiana.

As I worked my way through an undergrad philosophy degree, I liked an approach known as ‘ordinary language philosophy.’ Among other points, I particularly liked the idea that our ordinary position gives us a point of departure for philosophizing. That is to say, given our ordinary position as a starting point, we should be able to reach a philosophical term or viewpoint. Otherwise, we set it aside.

In short, Kaplan interprets the ordinary language philosopher J.L. Austin skillfully. But I thought he missed a broader point in Austin’s work, specifically, and certain kinds of ordinary language philosophy, generally. The point is that we have to understand the communicative functions of our words, even philosophical words like ‘know.’

With that in mind, I turn to the book How to Take Skepticism Seriously. It’s written by Adam Leite, another IU philosopher and my undergrad thesis adviser from 20 years ago. In it, he summarizes much of the epistemological work of his own philosophical career.

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Texas Break

May 5, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Hello readers!

Just wanted to drop a quick note that I’m taking the week off for travel. I’ve been in the Houston, Texas area for a family reunion.

Hope everyone’s having a great week so far. I’ll be back next Monday on the usual schedule!

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