Favorite Posts

Below is a list, in no particualr order, of some of the posts that I found the most productive and pleasurable interest in writing.

Some Easy Spinoza – 25 easy to understand essential points of Spinoza’s philosophy.

Aggregates, Groups and Trans-semiotics; Conjoined Semiosis: A “Nerve Language” of Bodies ; The Necessary Intersections of the Human Body: Spinoza – A theory of Conjoined Semiosis.

The Flatness of Latour’s Concept of Origin and Holbein’s The Ambassadors; The Copiousness of Copies : An analysis and appreciation of Latour’s concept of “orginal” (and good and bad copy), pointing towards certain deficiencies in his appraisal of copiousness, notably the power of causal history and explanation.

The Unmarked Font of Metaphysics and Truth: Helvetica and Belief – Arguments for why Helvetica is the metaphysical font are presented.

US versus Stevens: The Affects of Law and Protection A philosophical reading of the concepts employed and the nature of the freedoms addressed in the Supreme Court Case of US vs. Stevens.

Information, Spinoza’s “Idea” and The Structure of the Universe – An offered interpretation of Spinoza’s idea of “Idea” as a fundamental constituent of the Universe, wherein “idea” is read as “information” via Stonier’s Information Theory.

Is Spinoza a Cyberneticist, or a Chaocomplexicist? : A brief study of the Cybernetic and Chaoplexic tendencies within Spinoza’s thought.

From Ideal Networks to Real Ones: Al Qaeda and Chaoplexic Warfare – Some consideration of Bousquet’s treatment of Networks in the context of Al Qaeda

What is the “Antigone Complex”? Posthuman Tensored Agency; More on the Antigone Complex : A proposed “Antigone Complex” is offered, meant as a post-Oedipal surpass of the kinds of reductions brought on through the Oedipus Complex itself.

The Zuggtmonic Drive: (Dark) Intelligence Without Center ; Eros/Thanatos One Drive: The Limb-Loosener of Sappho– A hypothesis of a different sort of drive to replace the concept of the Death Drive.

An Achillean Economy: The Economy of Thymotics and Anger, Sloterdijk – Thoughts on Sloterdijk’s concept of a Thymotics and its relation to the wisdom of Achilles over Odyseus.

The Necessary Intersections of the Human Body: Spinoza; Conjoined Semiosis: A “Nerve Language” of Bodies : The proposed notion of a conjoined, trans-piercive semiosis that links body to body in a necessarily cognitively confused manner.

Spinoza and Tuberculosis: His Disease and Devotion; Was Tuberculosis the Condition of Spinoza’s Emendation of the Intellect?: Discussion of the little acknowledged possibility that the disease of tuberculosis was determining of some of the more significant biographical and philosophical aspects of Spinoza’s life.

Spinoza Sugar Time Table – A historical timetable offered give context to the question as to whether the Spinoza family was involved in the Sugar Trade.

Spinoza and the Caliban Question – Thoughts on the political uses of imagination in the setting of Spinoza’s world.

Spinoza’s Confusion of Ideas, and then, Metaphor; Spinoza and the Metaphoric Rise of the Imagination – A Spinozist theory of the powers of metaphor.

Umwelt, Umwelten and The Animal Defined By Its Relations; Differences in the World as Organs of Perception ; What is an Exowelt? – Prospective thoughts on a semiotic theory of Exowelt, defining the limits of an animal by the differences that make a different to it.

Spinoza’s Scheme of the Prophetic Imagination ; Omens of the Future: Intellection and Imagination : a study of Spinoza’s letter to Peter Balling and a discussion of the possible structure of the prophetic imagination.

Checking Heidegger’s Hammer: The Pleasure and Direction of the Whirr – A comparison of Heidegger’s hammer with Spinoza’s “axe”, pointing towards the Spinozist participatory reading of how we employ tools and a cybernetic view towards human action.

Heidegger’s Confusion Over “Truth” – Thoughts about the buried optical metaphor within Heidegger’s failed reading of Greek “truth” Aletheia

Is Latour an Under-Expressed Spinozist? – An analysis of Latour’s position as essentially a Spinozist metaphysics, missing only the power of explanation.

Anselm’s Proof of God, Wittgenstein’s Lion, Davidson’s Belief : a brief comparison of Anselm’s Proof of God, Wittgenstein’s claim of a failure to understand, and Davidson’s veridical belief.

Big Dog: Our Selves – Thoughts on the Affective powers of identification and interpretation brought out by the “Big Dog” robot, Wittgenstein and Deleuze.

The Buzz of Wittgenstein’s Builders : A discussion of whether bee communications qualify under Wittgenstein’s conception of language.

Wittgenstein, The Structuring of the Ego, and Autopoiesis – A criticism of new-age thinker Almaas’s appropriation of Autopoietic Theory via a prospective discussion of the place of the “ego” in Wittgenstein.

Chalmers’ Rough Thoughts On Spinoza and Panprotopanpsychism : A question and answer in which David Chalmers considers the merits of reading Spinoza’s metaphysics as a first “Zombie World”.

The Condensation of Specificity: Paul’s Use of “stoicheia” : A treatment of the rhetorical strategies of Paul of Tarsus, in the particularity of the word “stoicheia”

Davidson’s Razor, Vico’s Magnet : Philosophers Donald Davidson’s and Giambattista Vico’s take on metaphor are engaged with each other, so that a fuller conception of metaphorical use is achieved.

Della Rocca’s Spinoza: Do Affects “represent” Anything? : Michael Della Rocca’s view that affects are reducible to ideas, and hence are essentially representations, is considered.

Does Spinoza present a Zombie World? : David Chalmer’s thought experiment of a Zombie World is compared to Spinoza’s own “spiritual automaton” view of our present world.

Lindisfarne: The Rise of Illuminative Script :The famous script of the Matthew incipit page from the Lindisfarne Gospels is examined in details so as to bring out the condensational effects of word use, as the mystery of the rise of illuminative script is engaged.

The “Slave of Love” in Latin Poetry – An analysis of the “slave of love” trope in Latin love poetry, towards a trans-subjective view.

A Non-moral theory of Evil : Process Theology’s non-moral notion of Evil is set out. An interesting ingredient in ethical thinking.

The Operated Jew and the Thinking Machine :The myth of the mechanized Other is brought in reference to thought-experiment Philosophy of Mind analysis. 

Producing Producers: Interlocking of Oppression : Marx’ conception of “means of prodution” is shown to import an originary ideational component, one that helps explicate the consequences of Patricia Collin’s analytic of “Interlocking Oppression”.

The Purpose of a Word: a note on PI section 6 : Wittgenstein’s idea of a “purpose” of a word is questioned.

The Reality of the Affects: Spinoza’s Plotinian Real : Lilli Alanen’s difficulty with the illusion of the affects, in response to Della Rocca’s position, is looked at.

Savant Rule Following, What Shape is a Number? : Wittgenstein’s concept of “rule-following” is brought to an example of autistic savantism, in particular that of Daniel Tammet. Is Tammet following rules?

Spinoza: The Body of Ideas as Lens : The idea that Spinoza’s take on representation may have been heavily influenced by his vocation of lens-grinding.

Spinoza and His Courtesan : The curious Spinozist explanatory figure of the “meretrix” is discussed, with aim to sheding light on the nature of sociability.

Spinoza’s Letter 21 to Blyenbergh: Negation and the Unseeing Stone : The principle of “all determination is negation” is fleshed out, as it is found in Spinoza’s Letter 21, the contention that a blind man is missing sight no more than a stone.

Spinoza’s Logic of Affects and an Ontology of Torture : The question is raised as to whether there is a shadow-logic in Spinoza’s thinking which in some way legitimates the “form” of political torture.

Spinoza’s Two Concepts of Order : Spinoza’s two treatments of “order” (that of the imagination, and that of the mind) are put in juxtaposition.

The Trick of Dogs: Etiologic, Affection and Triangulation, Part I of IV : The first part of a four-part essay which discusses the relationship between Wittgenstein’s reason/cause distinction, and Davidson’s own position that beliefs and reasons are themselves conceptually causes.

Wasps, Orchids, Beetles and Crickets: A Menagerie of Change in Transgender Identification : This issue of transgender identification is used as a leverage point so to analyze the nature of subjectivity. The course moves from Deleuze and Guattari’s “Body Without Organs” approach to the organization of bodies and powers, to Davidson’s notion of a Triangulation of knowledges and a Principle of Charity. Spinoza’s “imitation of affects” in the end provides the nexus for a body-assemblage approach to idenity.

Zombies and Monsters of a Philosophy of Mind : The sweep of Philosophy of Mind thought-experiments is considered in its its sociological dimension.

10 Greatest Philosophers (sigh): Desert Island Question – A trail at my 10 greatest philosophers.