Capitalism

Against Retrograde Motion: Overturning the Capitalist Paradigm When I was an adjunct English instructor I discussed the trial of Galileo in all my classes, whether creative writing, survey of literature or basic college composition. I consider this incident a key entry into understanding the role of intellectual thought and inquiry within human society. Few isolated … Continue reading →

The Threat of the Compartmentalized Consciousness “Modern man protects himself from seeing his own split state by a system of compartments. Certain areas of outer life and his own behavior are kept, as it were, in separate drawers and are never confronted with one another.” “If, for a moment, we regard mankind as one individual, … Continue reading →

Against Inertia The capitalist philosophy arose out of the enlightenment; if it was the child of Adam Smith, it was certainly the grandson of Isaac Newton and a direct descendent of Descartes. Capitalism was the inevitable result of the mechanistic view of reality taking hold of human consciousness: that the Universe itself was simply a … Continue reading →

After the Empire of Convenience Plays Out This has been the epoch of miracles in daily life. With the mere flick of a tiny plastic switch, even the smallest child can send the cursed and ancient dark to flight. Warm rooms are to be taken for granted by all but the most destitute and miserable. … Continue reading →

Leaving the Cave and Unplugging the Hologram: Philosophy in an Age of Crisis Plato’s Allegory of the Cave addresses the limited understanding and acceptance of reality that marks most human experience. As in much of Plato’s work, the main character and spokesman for his ideas is his former teacher, the heroically martyred, Athenian philosopher Socrates. … Continue reading →

Conspiracies Considered

As a poet, a rogue philosopher, and non-academic researcher, toiling in my own obscure corners of the empire, I have often enough come upon various renegade theories intended to explain the true, hidden nature of political control. Many writers and outsider scholars have purported to find evidence for a secret “illuminati” pulling the strings of … Continue reading →

This is Rome About two weeks ago my wife and I walked into an all-night diner in Ithaca’s Collegetown, to get something to eat after her weekly gig singing with a funk band. This particular joint features 3 large televisions running continually, usually the endless overnight loop of Sports Center. But on this night they … Continue reading →

A Special Lobbyist, Just in Time for Summer And so we move on into summer, when even these, our national discontents of historical significance, appear to mercifully ebb, at least for some of us, at least for the space of an afternoon gardening or while walking with the dog along the creek at sunset. Meanwhile, … Continue reading →