And we’ve arrived at fall! I’ll say a word about what I’m reading as the season turns. It’s a bit of a mix between pleasure reading, fitness, and philosophy.
Not the usual mix!
As always, let me know what you’re reading these days.
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In a short Current Affairs article titled “Don’t Expect Art to Save Us,” RS Benedict argues that artistic or cultural expression cannot meaningfully substitute for concrete political action.
It’s not a new claim. Nor, in my view, is it a very controversial claim, though, as with even most accurate claims, it draws its detractors.
However, I think we can learn a few lessons from the very first reason Benedict gives in favor of the claim.
As of late, I’ve been trying to steer clear of the ‘Great Fascism Debate.’ I’m referring, of course, to the question of whether Donald Trump is a fascist and Trumpism a fascist movement. I’ve written about the topics extensively. For a quick review, readers should check out my original 2018 post arguing for a nuanced ‘no’ answer, as well as two additional posts proposing a fuller account of Trumpism.
In short, Trumpism sucks. But it sucks in a non-fascist way.
However, I’m not here to rehash all that.
This time, we’ll take a look at a brief analysis by Matthew Karp over at New Left Review. Karp brings to the table some insights about what people miss about the second round of Trump.
Welcome to the fourth post in our Epicureanism 101 series! Thus far in the series, I’ve focused on Epicurean ethics. And since we’re talking about issues of how we should live our lives, this focus makes sense.
But the Epicurean sees ethics as deeply connected to our metaphysics. Epicurus adopts a materialist, empirical metaphysics that serves to guide his ethics.
In this post, then, we’ll talk about the relationship between Epicurean empiricist philosophy and the ethical views we should adopt.
I’ve got to admit, this time of year isn’t always my favorite transition. I love summers in Iowa City. We get to see what the place looks like as a lower key college town. And now we’re once again moving out of that.
As we hang on to the last parts of the summer, I’m reading a nice mix of things. What are you reading?
