How do we assign value to things? Why do we believe that one thing is better than another? As I continue here with our discussion of how social reality is constructed (after a brief interlude …
Movie Review: An Ecology of Mind
I recently had the pleasure to attend a special pre-screening of a new film entitled An Ecology of Mind. The film is an hour-long documentary about the anthropologist and philosopher Gregory Bateson that was created by …
Why is Barack Obama the President of the United States?
I want to continue the discussion of how the social world is created by posing the question, “Why is Barack Obama the President of the United States?” The most popular answer to that question would …
Reality or Social Reality
I am currently beginning to study the work of the philosopher John R. Searle especially his work on how social reality is created. He starts from the fact that there are many things that are …
Emerson & James in Defense of Individual Greatness
In 1850 Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a book that he called Representative Men. In this book he explains that great individuals represent possibilities of higher ways of being. These extraordinary individuals have the power to …
Science and Nonduality Conference Final Report
I am posting an extra post this week so that I can give a final summation about the Science and Nonduality Conference that I just attended. On the last day of the conference I participated …
My First Report from the Science and Nonduality Conference
I am posting late this week because I wanted to write some thoughts from the conference I am attending and yesterday was the first day I spent here. The conference itself is a fascinating mix …
Charles Sanders Peirce’s Nonduality
Here are some final thougts about my topic for the science and nonduality conference next week. If anyone who reads this blog happens to come to that event please introduce yourself to me. Peirce’s inquiry …
The Evolutionary Design of Charles Sanders Peirce
On January 17, 1884 Charles Sanders Peirce presented a paper called “Design and Chance,” to the members of the Metaphysical Club, an organization that he had founded during the brief time that he taught at …
The Worldview of Worldviews
Recently some of my blog posts have been used by a teacher at St. John’s University to introduce the idea of “worldview” to one of her classes. Specifically her students have been reading and commenting …
The Inquiring Mind of Charles Sanders Peirce
At the science and nonduality conference I intend to make the subject of evolutionary ways of thinking part of what I present. I believe that the American Pragmatists were practicing an evolutionary form of thinking …
Evolutionary Nonduality and Ralph Waldo Emerson
Evolutionary Nonduality, at least as it is taught by Andrew Cohen, is ultimately about recognizing that we are not separate from the entire process of cosmic evolution. We tend to relate to the idea of …
A Philosophy of Pure Experience
Here is my second post exploring some of the ideas that are informing me as I prepare for my presentaion at the Science and Nonduality Conference. William James over the course of his life developed …
Life without the Background
On Friday October 22nd I will be presenting at the Science and Nonduality Conference in San Rafael, California. The topic of my presentation will be Evolutionary Non-duality, and I will introduce people to the same …
William James and social trust
James’ decidedly Existentialist leanings may have resulted from his own existential crisis. Soon after completing his medical degree from Harvard, while in a psychiatric ward, James noticed a severely mentally ill patient and was suddenly …
William James, American Existentialist
William Barrett introduced the philosophy of Existentialism to American academia with the publication of his book Irrational Man. In the book he is clear to state that Existentialism is strictly Continental European philosophical movement. Although …
Romanticism and Existential Philosophy
I have bee recently reading a book called “Irrational Man” by William Barrett. It was originally written in 1962 and it is generally recognized as the book that introduced the Existential philosophy of continental Europe …
Philosophy vs. Spirituality
I wanted to write a few words about what I see as the difference between philosophy and spirituality. I realize, naturally, that anything I say can only be some overly generalized distinction that may be …
Emerson’s Legacy: Process Philosophy and the Self
It is uncanny as you read more and more of Emerson how you can see the seeds of so much of American philosophy in his work. As I have said Pragmatism is the most significant …
Emerson’s Ecological Thought
I am heading off to a retreat for a month and so I will be reducing my posts to one a week on Thursdays for a while now. I hope that you enjoy my last …