Category Archives: Philosophy

Sam Harris: FREE WILL

Posted on Friday 18 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

(Free Press, March 2012, 83pp, including 17pp acknowledgements, notes, and index) Here’s another short book on a theme of continuing debate. Like most current scientists and philosophers, Harris tries to explain why the free will humans (naively) think they have … Continue reading →

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Jamie Whyte: CRIMES AGAINST LOGIC

Posted on Friday 11 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders (UK 2003 as Bad Thoughts: A Guide to Clear Thinking; US edition here McGraw-Hill, 2005, xi + 157pp; no index) Here’s a small book from the mid-2000s … Continue reading →

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Peter Singer: THE EXPANDING CIRCLE

Posted on Sunday 6 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress. (First published 1981. This edition, with a new preface and afterword: Princeton University Press, 2011, xviii + 208pp, including 35pp of notes on sources, afterword, and index.) I had thought this book was about … Continue reading →

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Todd May: A SIGNIFICANT LIFE

Posted on Thursday 3 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “Human Meaning in a Silent Universe” (University of Chicago Press, 2015, xi + 197pp, including 13pp of acknowledgments, notes, suggestions for further reading, and index) This is the first of three slender books I’ve collected over the years by … Continue reading →

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The Proper Study

Posted on Monday 24 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The proper study of mankind, if not in the way Alexander Pope meant; Powers of Ten, and the range of human intuition and understanding; If Pluto is a planet, so are dozens of other spherical bodies. A passionate performance of … Continue reading →

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The Mathematics of Beauty

Posted on Tuesday 11 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How mathematics is behind the things we perceive as beautiful, via Marcus du Sautoy; What is Trump trying to accomplish by reducing the number of diseases medicine can prevent children from getting?; Several items show confusion on the right between … Continue reading →

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Understanding Reality; the Capability Immaturity Model

Posted on Sunday 9 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Jim Palmer on the assumptions we make in trying to understand reality; Science academy axes climate section from manual for federal judges; About a “capability model” for immaturity. – – – Let’s return to one of Jim Palmer’s long essays … Continue reading →

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Arthur Brooks and Gary Snyder: Meaning and Wilderness

Posted on Friday 7 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Arthur Brooks on meaning and happiness (with my aside about the Ship of Theseus); Adam Frank on the poet Gary Snyder and the value of wilderness. – – – All right, let’s read Arthur Brooks again. Big Think, interview with … Continue reading →

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Tearing Down, and Tricksters

Posted on Wednesday 5 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How Big Business is abandoning climate commitments; Attacks on the Endangered Species Act, and critical thinking; Trump thinks blue states are a threat to the nation; and about his irrationality; How to deal with uncertainty (and the conservatives who refuse … Continue reading →

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Thinking for yourself; Suicidal empathy

Posted on Wednesday 29 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conditions for stupidity: outsourcing your thinking to an authority, willful ignorance, and conformity; No, ‘suicidal empathy’ is not destroying the West; Short items on Bari Weiss, windmills, blaming Canada, how Trump pled the fifth too, how Christians preach to captive … Continue reading →

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