Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

At Quora recently I found this question: Is Nietzsche's will to power a historical precursor to William James' pragmatism? I answered: You probably have in mind James “will to believe” here, rather than pragmatism more generally. If so, the first necessary response is that the two speculations, about will to power and will to believe, were underway at about the same time, so neither can logically be said to be a precursor to the other. They may mirror one another, because they come from analogous circumstances. Nietzsche was trying to survive a bout with Schopenhauerian pessimism by getting THROUGH it and coming out the other side. James was trying to survive a bout with his own personalized pessimism, what he called the “religion of the sick soul,” also by passing through it and finding what he could on the other side. So we get on the one hand Nietzsche’s will to power, where power (German “macht”) means something like self-actualization. And we get on the other hand James’ w...

  Aeon published a story recently about American pragmatism's influence and evolution in India. The story, written by Scott Stroud, condensing Stroud's recent book on the theme, centers on Bhimrao Ambedkar, a man who had returned to India after studying philosophy under John Dewey at Columbia in the 'teens of the 20th century.  Ambedkar is a fascinating figure -- of the "untouchable" or Dalit caste, he became one of the framers of the new Republic of India's constitution in the 1940s. That is him (standing and dressed in black) in the photo, when he formally presented the final draft of the new constitution to the president of the Constituent Assembly.  He was already then a member of the first cabinet upon Independence, Nehru's cabinet. Ambedkar's title was Law Minister.  What had he learnt from Dewey? Certainly one great theme of Dewey's writings, around the time that he would have been teaching young Bhimrao, was his unhappiness with the ...

  I recently encountered, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, a review of a book called THE OPEN FUTURE. It argues for a proposition that, I believe, is broadly correct. Time is real and creative. The future is something that does not yet exist.  In fact, as regular readers of this blog may remember, I believe in a "growing block" theory of reality-in-time. The past and present are both real. The present is the forward surface of a growing block, and the future is everything that the block has NOT yet reached. The book in question is written by a fellow named Patrick Todd and it costs $80 (which discourages me from purchase.)  The reviewer, Mitch Green, is a professor at the University of Connecticut. I have a great deal of fondness for that institution: the flagship public university of one of the three states in which I have resided throughout all of my life, and the one in which I have spent more of it even than in NY or Massachusetts. So ... yeah Huskies! Green descr...

  So let us turn back to the conflict between Naomi Wolf and Naomi Klein, as I outlined it on Tuesday. Do I have a preference?  Other than Naomi Campbell of course (talking about the beauty myth!).   It is hard to say.  Just weeks ago, when I still saw myself as an anarcho-capitalist, I would not have mentioned this, except as a sample of how the control-freaks of the world might fall out with each other to the incidental benefit of liberty. Nowadays I cannot give such a wise assed answer. So ... what CAN I say. As I indicated Tuesday, I approve of the fact that Wolf, though surely left of center in American political concerns herself, goes off the reservation.  She thinks for herself. With regard to Klein, I know of no similar self-assertiveness at the expense of orthodoxy.  I'd love to see it.  On the other hand, my relatively slight sampling of both authors indicates to me that Klein is a scholar, careful about sourcing. Wolf, though, is an af...

  I have absolutely nothing to say about this today.  Except that it is a fascinating idea for a book.  It will be published this December and is available for pre-order now.  The Concept of Property in Kant, Fichte, and Hegel: Freedom, Right, and Recognition by Jacob Blumenfeld, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)   The author, Jacob Blumenfeld, has also written ALL THINGS ARE NOTHING TO ME, a book on the philosophy of egoist Max Stirner. (The above image is of Fichte. My selection is arbitrary.)     

 It appears that Naomi Klein, a Toronto based feminist intellectual who wrote most famously THE SHOCK DOCTRINE (2007), has issues with Naomi Wolf, a San Francisco based feminist intellectual who wrote most famously THE BEAUTY MYTH (1990). Apart from the name, both women are of the same generation and in many respects similar appearance.  In THE BEAUTY MYTH Wolf criticizes the cosmetics and fashion industries especially as the forward troops in keeping women embarrassed and exploitable. This book was instantly and emphatically praised by various feminist Big Names, like Germaine Greer and Betty Freidan.  Klein says she is frequently confused with Wolf. Their world does not contain room, it appears, for two Naomis.  She doesn't like being confused with Wolf because she, Klein, is a more reliable leftist whereas Wolf goes off that reservation too often for Klein's comfort.    The annoyance has become much more than that, as the phrase "the green New Deal"...

  This is turning into a fascinating year for litigation.  Of course there is the former President and his four indictments, as well as his continued civil troubles.  The civil troubles feature an old lawsuit about a videophone he was hawking back in the day -- a marketing scheme that was mostly about selling the right to sell the phones, or selling the right to sell the right, etc, in classic pyramid fashion.  That aside, the year  2023 has seen the trial and conviction of Alex Murdaugh for the murder of his wife and son.  The Telles/German case is still hanging fire.   Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News would really have enlivened the year. As it happened, the willingness of the Fox empire to pay three quarters of a billion dollars to avoid a trial was itself remarkable and almost as much fun. Another great upcoming trial expected this year will be that of Sam Bankman-Fried, one time impresario of the great cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. The cas...