Philosophical Detritus Essay Series.
Applying pragmatic, nominalist, and heuristic critiques to metaphysics.
- I: Abstractions. (19 September 2025).
- II: Consciousness. (31 October 2025).
- III: Reality. (7 November 2025).
- IV: Truth. (2 January 2026)
- V: Determinism and Free Will. (forthcoming).
- VI: Time and Time Travel. (forthcoming)
- VII: Enlightenment. (forthcoming)
- Time for a Change
- The Ship of Theseus. FTFY*. Reflections on the classical philosophical paradox. One of the first essays in which I argue for a more pragmatic approach to philosophy.
- Experience and Reality
- Continuity & Philosophy
Metaphysics
- Of Miracles. (23 December 2011). Exploring themes from David Hume's essay on religion.
- A Layered Approach to Reality. Part I. First of three essays exploring the role of structure and scale in descriptions of the world. I think the basic ideas are OK, but I wouldn't use the term "reality" these days.
- A Layered Approach to Reality. Part II.1
- A Layered Approach to Reality. Part II.2
- Buddhism and Naturalism.
- There is No Cause & Effect. Causation is metaphysical, and thus not something we can know.
- Freewill is Back on the Menu. (11 March 2016). Libet's experiments were always controversial and have been debunked by his colleagues.
- The Mind-Body Problem and Why It Won't Go Away (14 May 2021). Why dualism remains plausible and intuitive despite being wrong.
Epistemology
- Searle on Consciousness & Implications for Buddhism
- Doctrine & Reason I: Reasoning. (13 January 2017)
- Doctrine & Reason II: Morality & Karma. (20 January 2017)
- Doctrine & Reason III: Madhyamaka Karma. (27 January 2017).
- The Emptiness of Etymology. (24 March 2023)
- The False Allure of Origins. (18 October 2024).
- On Abstract Thought and Nominalism. (10 January 2025)
Quantum Bullshit
- Erwin Schrödinger Didn't Have a Cat (29 October 2010).
- Buddhism and the Observer Effect in Quantum Mechanics (18 July 2014)
- Reality. Again. (23 October 2015)
- Quantum Bullshit (5 October 2018)
- Classical is Cooler (21 February 2025).
History
- Meier's Historicity Criteria. (14 July 2023).
- Myth vs History. (1 September 2023)
- Why Did Buddhists Abandon Buddhavana? (17 November 2023)
- We Will Never Know What Language the Buddha Spoke. (5 January 2024).
- History as Practiced by Philologists: A Response to Levman's Response to Drewes. (16 February 2024).
- Notes on Finding Buddhists in Global History. (12 April 2024)
- Early Buddhism as an Orientalist Construct. (19 April 2024).
Sociology
- Components of Social Reality: Social Reality (I).
- Institutional Facts & Language: Social Reality (II)
- Deontology: Social Reality (III)
- Power: Social Reality (IV)
- Norms without Conscious Rule Following. Social reality (V)
Morality
- Armed forces and non-violence (22 April 2006)
- Why Killing is Wrong (04 December 2015)
- Against Merciful Lies (19 February 2016)
- The Evolution of Morality. Introduction and Deontology. (18 November 2016)
- The Evolution of Morality. Two Pillars of Morality - Reciprocity (25 November 2016)
- The Evolution of Morality. Two Pillars of Morality - Empathy. (02 December 2016)
Political Philosophy
- My Political Compass (24 April 2019)
- On Liberty and Liberalism (03 May 2019)
Skandhas
