New Publication: The Redemption of Thinking

The Redemption of Thinking: A Study in Truth, Meaning, and the Evolution of Consciousness, 2020. Truth and meaning: what is their relation? Shall ever the twain be one? This dissertation attempts to show how the ascendancy of a particular method of inquiry since the seventeenth century has forfeit meaning in the pursuit of truth. At…

New publication: Scattered Leaves

I have published a collection of poetry called Scattered Leaves that is now available in Kindle and in print. “Anthology” means “collection of flowers” or “bouquet” in Greek and this is how I saw this volume. Together with my philosophical work, I have always written poetry as another mode of striving to articulate the truth…

Video Lecture: Science and Religion, Self and World

Some readers may be interested in a lecture on the relationship between religion and science as a reflection of the self-concept and world-concept. It was recorded for the sake of my students in a Critical Thinking course at Alaska Pacific University. I welcome any comments or thoughts on the subject. Warmly, Max

Miscellany: Mary and “the Gardener”, naming as invocation and not as labelling, and other topics

Why does Mary fail to recognize the risen Jesus on Easter morning and instead mistake him for “the gardener”? I was reflecting on this question a little bit yesterday and the more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes. Does it really seem plausible that a person would go to the tomb of…

Video Lecture: On the Reality of Thinking

Some readers may be interested in a lecture on the reality and essence of thinking. It was recorded for the sake of my students in a Critical Thinking course at Alaska Pacific University. I welcome any comments or thoughts on the subject. Warmly, Max

Miscellany: On the scapegoat, art, science, and authenticity

On scapegoating in relation to the Passiontide narrative as it is depicted in the Gospel accounts: I am delighted that you chose to take up this topic. It is the probably the most poignant topic and without a doubt the most dangerous one. I will offer a few comments and questions on what you wrote…

Video Lecture: On the Myth of Prometheus, Technology, and Archetypal Fire

Some readers may be interested in a lecture on The Myth of Prometheus, technology, and archetypal fire. It was recorded for the sake of my students in a Critical Thinking course at Alaska Pacific University. I welcome any comments or thoughts on the subject. Warmly, Max

Miscellany: Truth in art, beauty in science, and other topics

Time and mind: To the ordinary mind, time is a river that seems to rush past us from the future. And yet, a transcendent stillness of this current is also apprehensible—a simultaneity of its flow from source to delta. Time does not pass; it is the passage. The ordinary mind is the riverbank and time…

Miscellany: On teleology and evolutionary theory, the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, and other topics

On teleology and evolutionary theory: There is an extremely significant point to consider in respect to the premise that the genome is conserved through an individual organism’s interaction with its environment while the epigenome can undergo changes brought about directly by that organism’s action and interaction with(in). This is a straightforward and uncontroversial characterisation of…

Video Lecture: Justice and the Good in Plato’s Republic

Some readers may be interested in a lecture on the ideas of Justice and the Good in Plato’s Republic dialogue. As I indicated in the lecture, I found it exceedingly challenging to span these immense topics with my explanation but it is my hope that something I said may prove to be of value in…

Miscellany: on evolutionary theory, knowledge, and ethics

On evolutionary theory: Let’s take your example of the eye: you rightly pointed out that it is easily intelligible to conceive of the eye as an organ ordered to the purpose of sight. Imagine that you had to arrive at a seeing eye purely by way of chance mutations and without any “foresight,” which is…

Plato’s Republic: In Defense of The Poets

“Beauty is a manifestation of Nature’s secret laws, which would otherwise remain forever hidden.” —J. W. von Goethe [1] Plato notoriously argued for the expulsion of the poets from the Res publica on several occasions in his well-known work. His decision might seem to suggest that art is of little value in the quest for spiritual attainment….