Nathan Ballantyne

The author is John Koethe. This might be of interest @dailynous.com, @brianleiter.bsky.social, @nescio13.bsky.social

Here’s the best poem ever written about John Rawls.

There’s a forthcoming collection on Pascal, edited by Roger Ariew and Yuval Avnur.

Gell-Mann amnesia effect - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Ma...

How could you not get to First Philosophy?

I really enjoyed your recent episode on *The Cheese and the Worms*, by the way.

Not quite

Academics, who like to laugh about the students’ clichéd preamble “For thousands of years, people have wondered about…,” also like to begin “No one has yet provided a thorough study of…”

Everybody chill out and take an epistemology pill

We are all our own classic New Yorker cover cartoon...

(psst, those younger can google Saul Steinberg, 9th avenue, New Yorker)

Theateritis: “the tendency of military commanders to look only at the needs of their own theater of operation, and not at the requirements of fighting the war as a whole.”

Opinion | The Long Shadow of Fraud in Alzheimer’s Research (Gift Article) Fraud in research needs to end.

An excellent essay about misconduct in Alzheimer’s research.

“Hubris and lassitude about misconduct — shared by other funders and regulators, journals and universities — has to change. Alzheimer’s research must start self-policing effectively.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/o...

Congratulations, Louis!

Moore’s proof strikes almost everyone as circular. Yet, Moore appears curiously indifferent to this worry—what gives? My paper, “Moore’s Fourth Condition,” forthcoming in the Journal of the History of Philosophy, draws on unpublished archival evidence to provide some answers. tinyurl.com/2c48txr9

“Philosophy is the conflict between the obvious and the obvious.” – Renford Bambrough (1926–99)

“Never trust anyone”

That’s not surprising to hear. Do you think some of the social/political epistemology is relatively “traditional” at its core but has been packaged for PR purposes? (E.g., a discussion of internalism/externalism might be framed with examples drawn from political life.)

I once owned a copy of the real fake book. Seriously. halleonard-coverimages.s3.amazonaws.com/wl/00240221-...

YouTube video by John Coltrane - Topic Tapestry In Sound (Live In Seattle / 1965)

youtu.be/JPKKtlpenvI?...

Good example! There are lots of “Moorean”-esque contrasts drawn in the history of skepticism. I recall that Augustine, in Contra Academicos, is talking about how skeptics think reasoning or perception is obscure, but then points out that it’s clear we are not insects!

What is a question in philosophy where, the more you read and think, the deeper it seems?

I second Plantinga’s view about the difficulty of epistemology. @resistance.money might have posted a PDF of the chapter itself.

Alvin Plantinga wrote in a reply chapter in a book of critical essays about his epistemology: “It has also convinced me (once more) of the extreme difficulty of epistemology; with further insight, not only the answers but the very shape of the questions keep changing.” (“Respondeo,” 1996)

@charactergap.bsky.social

“In philosophy if you aren't moving at a snail's pace you aren't moving at all.” Iris Murdoch.

You’re near Joshua Tree. If you haven’t experienced that place, I recommend driving through. Send me a message if you want suggestions for a route. For a good Mexican spot in a strip mall, try Taqueria Teotihuacan in La Quinta.

Are you in Palm Springs? I think I know that mountain range…