I Still Do Philosophy Sometimes, Too!

Yeah, I've been busy playing music.

But I've also been spending some time this summer editing and expanding a paper on Socrates and Daoism. Look for an updated version soon.

Once I finish that, I'll do something more with this paper on the musical consolation that I presented last November at the American Society for Aesthetics annual meeting.

I just finished reading this wonderful book by Hans Georg-Moeller entitled The Moral Fool, which I came across while doing some research on Daoism. He argues, starting from some Daoist ideas, that we need less morality. (Really, less self-righteousness and the use of morality as a weapon.) It's quite provocative, at least if you've ever been tempted by moralism. I think that one could probably argue that his position still invokes moral ideas (or assumptions)--a rose by any other name, etc.--and I'm still pondering the way he attempts simply to absorb that point without allowing that it counts against his main claims. I certainly have found Daoism quite attractive as of late; it seems like a helpful antidote to excessive moralizing (in philosophy, social media, etc.), and probably is personally appealing to me for similar reasons as I am drawn to Stoicism.