Clik here to view.
I’ll jar these mountains till they fall
‘I am done.’ That was my response to a TNC post on his unwillingness to keep fighting battles he considers settled: I don’t want to die debating the humanity of the blacks, the gays, the browns and the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The expulsion from the Garden of Eden is the beginning of life as I know it
I’m a little fuzzy on the whole sin thing. Yes, something about disobeying God, with apples, snakes, naked people, banishment, knowledge. . . really, if I were religious, I’d surely find this all...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Just like everybody else does
Were slaves humans to those who enslaved them? Were Jews and the Roma and Slavs human to Nazis? Yes. And no. Ta-Nehisi Coates’s interests and mine once again intersect, this time on the question of who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Of flesh and blood I’m made
What is human? I got into it with commenter The Wet One at TNC’s joint, who chided me not to, in effect, complicate straightforward matters. I responded that straightforward matters often are quite...
View ArticleClik here to view.
We’re humans from earth, pt. I
*Updated* I just noted that the comment TWO referred to earlier as perhaps being stuck in moderation was in fact so stuck. I just noticed it now, so haven’t responded to it in either this post or in pt...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Humans from earth, pt II
Why ontological? I like to make everything ontological, is one answer, but also because this is the level at which the question of being qua being occurs. What does it mean to be human? I suggested in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Humans from earth, pt III
So I fudged in the previous two posts. I assigned the “practical” to pt I and the “ontological” to pt II, and then promised to return to the practical in this post. But really, it’s all been pretty...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I’m only human, of flesh and blood I’m made
I haven’t read the book, but do you really think that would stop me from commenting on it? I have a PhD, y’know, which means I am more-than-well-qualified to talk about an argument on which I have not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Do you feel real?
I am not a successful academic. I’m a pretty good teacher, but I’ve neither attended a conference nor submitted any papers for publication in over a decade. And yes, while I’m working on this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Transmit the message to the receiver
After being knocked flat, then crouching, I’m back on my feet. Still not listening to NPR, but I’ve managed WNYC and the BBC. It’ll come, it’ll come. So, what are we to do? My principles remain. I am...
View Article
