Comments on: Spengler was not so humble

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 23 May 2022 16:40:57 +0000

Paul Town

By: Pseudo-Chrysostom

Pseudo-Chrysostom — Sat, 21 May 2022 21:19:37 +0000

Herman Melville’s fame came long after he was alive to enjoy it. Such will be the case for what truly great writers exist, if any, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The true canon will be formulated only after that presently incumbent power tendering its anti-canon, dies of its own poison.

By: Adept

Adept — Sat, 21 May 2022 13:27:09 +0000

Zizek doesn’t really rate, I think. He’s basically a Hegel scholar and a commentator. His modus operandi is to interpret modern forms (for e.g. political structures,) through Hegel — and, when in doubt, to use Lacanian critical theory to interpret and broaden the oeuvre of Hegel.

So Zizek is not a terribly original thinker. His archetype is that of the disciple.

I don’t think that there are any really noteworthy 20th century philosophers. Wittgenstein had one good idea, a simplification of which is that certain philosophical paradoxes are rooted in the way we use language. Wittgenstein held that to properly grasp a concept, you have to be very clear about the use of words and phrases governing the concept — if they’re unclear, as is often the case in metaphysics and the philosophy of mathematics, unnecessary philosophical problems arise, which can be beyond our ability to disentangle.

Heidegger and the existentialists had no good ideas, and put forth a really puerile philosophy. If existentialism had clear axioms, they would seem obvious and trivially self-evident to every seven year old child. (Though very few seven year old children would be naïve enough to express them.) This is precisely why Heidegger viewed obscurantism as the philosopher’s most important and powerful tool.

Foucault and Lacan, for their part, have done far more harm than good.

By: Freddo

Freddo — Fri, 20 May 2022 09:16:04 +0000

Gotta be Al Gore for inventing the internet and global warming.

By: David Roman

David Roman — Fri, 20 May 2022 06:31:28 +0000

Zizek, obviously.

By: The American Muse

The American Muse — Fri, 20 May 2022 05:45:05 +0000

I nominate James LaFond.

By: Adept

Adept — Fri, 20 May 2022 00:21:25 +0000

These days, Nick Bostrom and Robin Hanson are regularly mentioned in scientific and philosophical papers. They’re mainstays, and for good reason:
They’re fairly original thinkers, they’ve already developed a few interesting/useful thought experiments, they avoid troublesome and paradoxical topics, they’re good self-promoters, and they’ve developed a habit of working in subjects that are of interest to the technical-scientific elite. Artificial intelligence, transhumanism, etc.

By: Altitude Zero

Altitude Zero — Thu, 19 May 2022 21:30:25 +0000

Houellebecq. He’s at least as good as Ibsen.

By: Harry Jones

Harry Jones — Thu, 19 May 2022 17:48:10 +0000

It’s easier to market a great books canon if it’s all in public domain. Way less talking to lawyers, and way less suspicion that it’s just some shady book promotion deal.

Somewhat less money tho. Gotta go for the acid free paper and the leather binding to have a decent markup.

By: John

John — Thu, 19 May 2022 13:08:31 +0000

Miles Mathis, Petro Dobromylskyj, Ugo Bardi.