The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “philosophy”

Francis Bacon on Learning and How to Read Intelligently
Francis Bacon on Learning and How to Read Intelligently

“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.”

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Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists
Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists

On love, liberty, and the pursuit of silence.

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What Is Art? Favorite Famous Definitions, from Antiquity to Today
What Is Art? Favorite Famous Definitions, from Antiquity to Today

“Art is not a thing — it is a way.”

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The Self Illusion: How Our Social Brain Constructs Who We Are
The Self Illusion: How Our Social Brain Constructs Who We Are

Hume was a neuroscientist, or what early aviation has to do with the psychology of identity.

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The Two Pillars of the Sensible and Sensitive Mind: Carl Sagan on Mastering the Vital Balance of Skepticism and Openness
The Two Pillars of the Sensible and Sensitive Mind: Carl Sagan on Mastering the Vital Balance of Skepticism and Openness

Fine-tuning the machinery of distinguishing the valid from the non-valid.

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Thoreau on Defining Your Own Success
Thoreau on Defining Your Own Success

“If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal — that is your success.”

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Susan Sontag on Censorship and the Three Steps to Refuting Any Argument
Susan Sontag on Censorship and the Three Steps to Refuting Any Argument

“A just/ discriminating censorship is impossible.”

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Sartre on Why “Being-in-the-World-Ness” is the Key to the Imagination
Sartre on Why “Being-in-the-World-Ness” is the Key to the Imagination

On the figure-ground relationship between the real and the irreal.

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Love Is Wise, Hatred Is Foolish: Bertrand Russell Timeless Message to the Future
Love Is Wise, Hatred Is Foolish: Bertrand Russell Timeless Message to the Future

What the cult of fact has to do with the essential condition for the survival of the human race.

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Joan Didion on Self-Respect
Joan Didion on Self-Respect

“Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs.”

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