Thoughts on scientific explanation and what a reason why is: a 🧵 Theories of what counts as scientific explanation are really theories of what counts as a proper answer to “Why?”. This all depends on (and will vary according to) what one takes to be the purpose of asking “Why?”

A.I. and The Humanities—An Experiment I plan to spend the Fall studying Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy, and for that I will use Claude liberally. The goal: to see how much it can accelerate the process of close reading. Call it "Artificial Thoughts on Machiavelli." 🧵

I'm don't claim art cannot be made with digital programs. It's easier, faster, allows for perfect symmetry (when appropriate), etc. Definitely superior for an machined elements (armor, etc.). But there is nothing like taking raw materials and transforming them into art.

Some books you just feel your mind actively growing and suffused with light

Onwards to the next quartet! Weeks 10–12 (Mar 10–30): Op. 18 No. 4 in C minor It’s been an incredible journey so far, slow listening, and really getting to know each one in contrast to the others. I have my eye on Grosse Fugue ( ‘late’ period) which to be honest I find

I am so excited for this!

A new post on a few new things… (1) David Bolotin, On Plato's Republic: The 1988 Lecture Notes, ed. Paul Diduch & myself Political Animal Press (2) Interview at the Miskatonian (3) Politik des Eros: Überlegungen zu Platons Symposion, trans. Peter Trawny Read more in replies…

“no bad sketches”: this reminds me that the very idea of “sketch” has its historical origins (for example in Pisanello) as an instrument of learning. So, what does a hunting hound *really* look like, by contrast with what the Florentine studio’s model book shows? The sketch is

Sometimes I think what I’ve really been working on over the years is simply to learn how to take hold of problems and arguments well and thoroughly, but also how to let problems and arguments as it were take hold of me. It can take a very long time to realize how important a

Andreesen is not wrong about the genealogy of the *special* sense of the idea. And if we widen the meaning to include more generally “self-examination”, or “reflection” or even “contemplation” - there is a real tension *anyway* between what is required for deliberation in the

Perhaps…!

Entirely missing the point. The issue is not “thinking about what we’re doing” but a certain Hamletism of the spirit, a habit self-examination that is a self-undoing, and involves a backwards-looking position, weighing any and all current challenges in terms of past personal

I've gone through this program myself - and I've read the works with folks outside St. John's - and I can attest to what Zena Hitz is saying. Speaking only for myself, I think the best reason for reading these books in particular - why I'd want to go back and read them as many

Haydn invented the string quartet, on the model of political liberty. In a recent concert by the Vitamin String Quartet (the recording studio project that translates pop songs into the string quartet), the VSQ jokes with its audience about how Haydn invented the string quartet