This, for those who are unfamilar with it, is what musicians in a band call playing a few chords or figures over and over again while waiting for the lead singer to start his or her number. Now that I have brought my Marx tutorial to a close, I am trying to catch up on a few things while waiting for the Muse to inspire me with my next blog riff.
I have spent the past few days teaching my two courses and doing my taxes. The latter effort is tedious, time-consuming, and depressing, needless to say, but I like not to leave it to the last moment. Now that I am retired, I seem not to be able to get my withholding right, so I fear I shall owe the federal government some money. I freely confess that I pay my taxes not because I believe the State has the de jure authority to require it, but simply because I fear the punishment it will inflict if I do not. It seems that being an anarchist does not save me any money, in the end. [It does make me a bit of money, though, since IN DEFENSE OF ANARCHISM continues to sell some copies each year.]
Meanwhile, I have started reading the copyedited chapters of the eleventh edition of ABOUT PHILOSOPHY, a college textbook I wrote thirty-six years ago. Happily for me, Philosophy, unlike Biology or Physics, changes at glacial speed, so a textbook a third of a century old can still be used in college classrooms with relatively minor revisions. Over the years, the book has changed a good deal, although its core passages remain unaltered. I wrote it in eight weeks to fulfill a contract, and because I did not actually expect anyone to read it, I felt free to say what I really think about the various branches or fields of philosophy.
Several people have indicated an interest in some posts on Kant's ethical theories. That would be a daunting undertaking indeed, and I am still turning it over in my mind. Each time I bring one of my multi-part blog series to a close, I think I shall never have anything to say again, but somehow after a few days, the words start pouring out again. We shall see.
Muse here. I was wondering if you could write a post on unions given the recent events in Madison, WI.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you're still taking requests,
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on Plato's Republic, or the other thinkers your working on in your courses...
"Happily for me, Philosophy, unlike Biology or Physics, changes at glacial speed, so a textbook a third of a century old can still be used in college classrooms with relatively minor revisions."
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about what the relatively minor revisions over the last third of a century have been. In particular, is there a discussion of the necessary a posteriori? Of the contingent a priori?