Philosophy

The Aura of Stuff
In Sacred Economics, the invaluable free e-book by Charles Eisenstein, the author calls for a new materialism, and I agree with him. It seems paradoxical that strong opponents of consumerism see something positive in stuff. We all know where our stuff comes from, we know about the morally indefensible sweatshops and the physically unsustainable processes ...
Sharing
Let me come on with an attitude and say I'll debunk a myth today. Inspired once again by our baby daughter Miru, I started questioning the common belief that babies don't share. A quick look-up on the BrinPage machine (i.e. Google) confirmed that this is indeed what our experts think. Why? Because "So basically what ...
I don't sing in the shower because I'm happy - I sing in the shower to make myself happy - Austin Showers
Habit and comfort
Sometimes, the categories of an ad hoc philosophical anthropology can be revealing. Today, my anthropology says: We are beings of habit as well as beings of comfort. The inertia of our species and our politicians is grounded in these principles. There is always a certain optimal balance of comfort and habit, which our organisms are ...
Modesty
“A great man is always willing to be little.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson “A modest little person, with much to be modest about.” ― Winston Churchill I want to stretch out my tentacles to tackle the idea of modesty. Sound the clarions, hoist the flags, this self-proclaimed writer marches in to lecture about a virtue ...
Boredom
Dear companion, would you like to write about boredom with me? Would you mind if we leave out scientific studies involving cortisol levels, inhibitors, synapses, our neocortices and neurotransmitters. Would you mind it not containing literary quotes by the likes of Schopenhauer, Ciorán, or Sartre? If it becomes a mere piece of reflection, an invitation ...
Ethics of mobile phone chat conversations.
When you live in an urban area, you will have the experience of seeing people conducing chat conversations with their mobile phones in public places. This is an exciting new possibility of technology, that enables us to talk with anyone, anywhere, and seemingly without disturbing others, because these conversations are silent. There is one catch: ...
Tractatus Logico-Economicus
0. The economy revolves around things. 0.1. Things are products, services, and consumers. 0.1.1. Products depend on finite natural resources. 0.1.2. Services depend on finite time. 0.1.3. An economy with a value-function based on products and services needs endless progress. 0.1.4. Endless progress combined with finite resources results in devaluation. 0.1.5. The value of products ...
One Human Nature?
Prize question: What is more harmful, the assumption that there is one human nature, or the idea that there are many? History suggests several answers. We can argue that the assumption of human beings as "economic agents" interested only in maximizing their own profit, leads to the current neoliberal system with all its destructive tendencies. ...