The ball of wax and the bitten apple
The wax argument is a classic rationalist exemplar from Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy. Descartes describes a ball of wax recently taken from a hive: it still smells faintly of […]
Category Archives: Philosophy
Kant’s Dinner Party
My familiarity with the work of Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) is mostly centered on Critique of Judgment, in which he explores the roles beauty and aesthetic pleasure play in the life […]
Barthes’ “Ornamental Cookery” in the age of Foodstagram
“Ornamental Cookery” (as it is titled in the translation) is one of my favorite essays in Roland Barthes’ Mythologies, not least because of the vivid and whimsical descriptions of the food prepared […]
Hegel on the difference between men and women
In the Philosophy of Right, Hegel explores the role of family and marriage in the stability of the state. For Hegel, the critical element of a marriage is opposite sexes which […]
Quick hit: The Office Fridge
NPR’s The Salt has a deliciously damning post about thievery in office fridges. Apparently NPR offices, too, suffer the scourge that has inspired dozens of passive-aggressive notes worldwide–and their write-up is […]
Link Buffet: Definitions
. . . legal and cultural. I’ve been meaning to post this forever, but in the Spring 2012 Dissent, Mark Engler offers a straightforward, informative overview of three movements toward ethical growing and […]
Philosophy of a Philly Foodie
Let’s get some assumptions out of the way, shall we? You don’t have to eat expensively to eat healthy food. You don’t have to eat expensively to eat delicious food. […]
The Environmental Attaché
Yesterday there was a package waiting on my stairs. I was perplexed: I hadn’t ordered anything recently and wasn’t expecting any gifts. And then I opened it. . . . […]
Ars Gastronomica: Food, Art, and Pleasure
Last week, I had a post up about the food, art, and aesthetic experience at Table Matters. (Are you reading Table Matters? You should be. Just last week alone […]
The Winestain in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin describes the “aura” that might be held by a unique work of art. The term “aura” is […]
