Philosophy Now Forum

A bunch a fuckin losers? Sure. Nickel and dime stuff day after day after day. But you still practice not saying it to their face. If you’re in the neighborhood. And they ain’t exactly living their lives like zombies. This being, you know, a man’s world. Still, sometimes I think folks like Scorsese a...

In The Loop Toby: Suzy, this is probably going to sound a bit odd under the circumstances, but… Suzy: A quickie? Meanwhile, back in Baghdad... Gen. Miller: No, you’re doing Linton’s dirty work. You’re his English bitch and you don’t even know it. I bet if I went into your hotel room tonight, I’d se...

In The Loop Malcolm Fucking hung up, haven’t you? You fucking hoity-toity fucking… Tourist: Hey, buddy? Enough with the curse words, all right? Malcolm: Kiss my sweaty balls, you fat fuck. He doesn't though. Karen: Yes, Assistant Secretary, on point six, it feels like there’s already been an assump...

Free Will “Free will is an illusion. Our wills are simply not of our own making.” Sam Harris He's compelled to remind us. “Free-will doesn't include shit-happens, unless that's the goal of one's intention.” Toba Beta How about you? Does yours? “Are we just radio sets? Tuned to a particular frequenc...

In The Loop Malcolm: You, hey, put the snifter out there that if the BBC ambushes a minister with another surprise question about the war, I’ll drop a bomb on them. Judy: I can’t do that, can I? That’s political. Malcolm: Does that not fit within your purview, Marie Antoinette? Why don’t you just s...

Bottom line: Liberal to the core. Another expose on the “best and the brightest”. In other words, with the actual nature of our political and economic system no where to be found. Someone called this the Spinal Tap of politics. True. Only this comes much, much, much closer to reality. It’s less that...

The Illusion of Illusionism Raymond Tallis sees through a physicalist confusion. There is an obvious objection to illusionism. How can I be wrong about the existence of something for which I have inescapable evidence? Of course, I can be mistaken as to the existence of something that I believe is ou...

The Illusion of Illusionism Raymond Tallis sees through a physicalist confusion. There is an obvious objection to illusionism. How can I be wrong about the existence of something for which I have inescapable evidence? Of course, I can be mistaken as to the existence of something that I believe is ou...

Drive Driver [after slapping Blanche and holding her down]: Now, you just got a little boy’s father killed. And you almost got us killed. And now you’re lying to me. So how about this? From now on, every word out of your mouth is the truth. Or I’m going to hurt you. I certainly believed him. Driver...

If you choose to interact with thugs be prepared for them [eventually] to seep into the parts of your life reserved for those who are not thugs. But then her husband is in prison. And he is getting out in a week. This is one of those films where “atmosphere” is all pervasive. It’s brimming with the ...

Death “The man who kills a man kills a man. The man who kills himself kills all men. As far as he is concerned, he wipes out the world.” G.K. Chesterton And how comforting is that! “The language of love letters is the same as suicide notes.” Courtney Love Tell that to Kurt? “Crap. It's all crap. Li...

A Few Good Men Dawson: We joined the Marines because we wanted to live our lives by a certain code, and we found it in the Corps. Now you’re asking us to sign a piece of paper that says we have no honor. You’re asking us to say we’re not Marines. If a court decides that what we did was wrong, then ...

The Self and Self-Knowledge Richard Baron inspects different ideas of the self. A book review of an anthology on the self and self-knowledge. Self-Knowledge Moving on to our knowledge of ourselves, there are several possibilities. One is that we work out our beliefs, desires and sensations by observ...

Nicolas de Chamfort When you want to be well-liked in the world, you have to let a lot of people teach you things that you know and they don't. Uh, tell me about it? Don't you know that we must always have a place where we never go but where we think we'd be happy if we did? Miners Mills... There i...

Yet another film about the United States military in which the focus is on something that has almost nothing whatsoever to do with its actual [primary] function in the world. Code Red? That is the crime here?! That’s like focusing on the break-in at the Watergate complex and completely ignoring the ...