Owen Goldin
@owengoldin.bsky.social
Professor of Philosophy at Marquette University, doing mostly ancient philosophy, Gardening, music, politics.
t's a good time to remind ourselves of the Talmudic understanding of this week's parsha - the primary sin of the people of Sodom was the mistreatment of immigrants, and it was this for which the nation as a whole was punished.
www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.10...
www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.10...
October 30, 2025 at 3:54 PM
t's a good time to remind ourselves of the Talmudic understanding of this week's parsha - the primary sin of the people of Sodom was the mistreatment of immigrants, and it was this for which the nation as a whole was punished.
www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.10...
www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.10...
To see the coherence of the Trumpian mob mentality, especially in international affairs, see Kautilya's Arthashastra. k works through the alliances and wars of kings, each seeking to maximize his own power. Alliances are temporary -- the weak submit to avoid destruction.
September 25, 2025 at 11:39 PM
To see the coherence of the Trumpian mob mentality, especially in international affairs, see Kautilya's Arthashastra. k works through the alliances and wars of kings, each seeking to maximize his own power. Alliances are temporary -- the weak submit to avoid destruction.
I look on the age of AI with considerable trepidation. And I am aware of the problems that gpt-5 has had, shifting tasks to rather stupid submodels to "speed things up"
August 15, 2025 at 12:05 AM
I look on the age of AI with considerable trepidation. And I am aware of the problems that gpt-5 has had, shifting tasks to rather stupid submodels to "speed things up"
Here is a link to the playlist of a show I produced not long ago, in honor of the old NYC/NE folk scene, a benefit for www.jailguitardoors.org I am very proud of how it turned out. Please check it out, and if you can, donate.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Bleecker and McDougal @60+; Benefit for Jail Guitar Doors; Linneman's Riverwest Inn Milwaukee WI January 25, 2025 - YouTube
Videography: Stephen Vincent Anderson Please donate to Jail Guitar Doors here https://www.jailguitardoors.org/donate
www.youtube.com
August 11, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Here is a link to the playlist of a show I produced not long ago, in honor of the old NYC/NE folk scene, a benefit for www.jailguitardoors.org I am very proud of how it turned out. Please check it out, and if you can, donate.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Finishing up another translation for the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series. This, by Eustratius, a Byzantine bishop, who was hardly likely to have gender justine on his mind. But, when E is speaking of a generic thinker (not Aristotle) -- you you think it best now to go with "they"?
July 27, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Finishing up another translation for the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series. This, by Eustratius, a Byzantine bishop, who was hardly likely to have gender justine on his mind. But, when E is speaking of a generic thinker (not Aristotle) -- you you think it best now to go with "they"?
OK suppose MAGA wins both 1) the power of the Executive branch to withhold money from public schools because of what is taught and 2) federal support of religious education. Then when a Democrat is elected they can use 1) to void 2) Right?
May 1, 2025 at 4:05 AM
OK suppose MAGA wins both 1) the power of the Executive branch to withhold money from public schools because of what is taught and 2) federal support of religious education. Then when a Democrat is elected they can use 1) to void 2) Right?
On Dirty Hands. Today I had a grad student advisee come in for paperwork for a temporary withdrawal -- cancer has taken a severe turn for the worse. He started waxing philosophical -- in the armchair sense, though Camus and Kant came up.
March 18, 2025 at 4:58 PM
On Dirty Hands. Today I had a grad student advisee come in for paperwork for a temporary withdrawal -- cancer has taken a severe turn for the worse. He started waxing philosophical -- in the armchair sense, though Camus and Kant came up.
I was stepping out a bit and wrote this piece on transhumanism. (I'm against it. I think the green light Musk has now, to merge a Neuralink with AI, is the biggest threat humanity is now facing.)
February 2, 2025 at 5:44 AM
I was stepping out a bit and wrote this piece on transhumanism. (I'm against it. I think the green light Musk has now, to merge a Neuralink with AI, is the biggest threat humanity is now facing.)
Would anyone with some experience and moderate success in learning ancient languages like to join me in learning Sanskrit?
December 16, 2024 at 6:24 AM
Would anyone with some experience and moderate success in learning ancient languages like to join me in learning Sanskrit?
Greek philosophy friends, what do you think? This is from Eustratius' Posterior Analytics commentary.
ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος, τουτέστιν ὁ ὀνοματώδης, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ τραγέλαφος τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ τοιούτου λόγου ἑρμηνευόμενον σημασίαν μὲν παρέχεταί τινος
ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος, τουτέστιν ὁ ὀνοματώδης, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ τραγέλαφος τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ τοιούτου λόγου ἑρμηνευόμενον σημασίαν μὲν παρέχεταί τινος
November 29, 2024 at 12:16 AM
Greek philosophy friends, what do you think? This is from Eustratius' Posterior Analytics commentary.
ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος, τουτέστιν ὁ ὀνοματώδης, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ τραγέλαφος τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ τοιούτου λόγου ἑρμηνευόμενον σημασίαν μὲν παρέχεταί τινος
ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος, τουτέστιν ὁ ὀνοματώδης, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ τραγέλαφος τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ τοιούτου λόγου ἑρμηνευόμενον σημασίαν μὲν παρέχεταί τινος
Am finishing up my philosophy of science class with climate science. The SEP article is good on climate contrarianism and I'm assigning @jbiddle.bsky.social and Leuschner philsci-archive.pitt.edu/11313/ I like to give students at access to conservative povs. Any worthy responses to B and L?
Climate Skepticism and the Manufacture of Doubt: Can Dissent in Science be Epistemically Detrimental? - PhilSci-Archive
philsci-archive.pitt.edu
November 27, 2024 at 4:08 AM
Am finishing up my philosophy of science class with climate science. The SEP article is good on climate contrarianism and I'm assigning @jbiddle.bsky.social and Leuschner philsci-archive.pitt.edu/11313/ I like to give students at access to conservative povs. Any worthy responses to B and L?
Aristotle Meta. Delta 1: "we call an arkhe (origin) that from which (as an immanent part) a thing first arises, e.g. as the keel of a ship and the foundation of a house." I'm writing on this. The case of the foundation is obvious. But why does one start building a ship from the keel? The reason?
January 25, 2024 at 10:38 PM
Aristotle Meta. Delta 1: "we call an arkhe (origin) that from which (as an immanent part) a thing first arises, e.g. as the keel of a ship and the foundation of a house." I'm writing on this. The case of the foundation is obvious. But why does one start building a ship from the keel? The reason?
Anyone out there still reading Lucien Lévy-Bruhl? I am a scholar in philosophy trying to educate myself in what anthropologists have to say about what he calls “primitive” thinking as opposed to “modern” thinking.
January 3, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Anyone out there still reading Lucien Lévy-Bruhl? I am a scholar in philosophy trying to educate myself in what anthropologists have to say about what he calls “primitive” thinking as opposed to “modern” thinking.
I have been much enjoying Todd DePastino's Citizen Hobo The material on the tramps of the early 20th century is especially interesting. The shift from an agrarian economy meant that much labor was necessarily transient, giving rise to workers camps and skid rows.
Citizen Hobo
In the years following the Civil War, a veritable army of homeless men swept across America’s "wageworkers’ frontier" and forged a beguiling and bedeviling counterculture known as "hobohemia." Cel...
press.uchicago.edu
December 21, 2023 at 5:18 PM
I have been much enjoying Todd DePastino's Citizen Hobo The material on the tramps of the early 20th century is especially interesting. The shift from an agrarian economy meant that much labor was necessarily transient, giving rise to workers camps and skid rows.
Does anyone out there know any good work -- in anthropology or classics -- on the right of sanctuary -- the right of a suppliant to find protection in a holy place?
November 1, 2023 at 4:20 AM
Does anyone out there know any good work -- in anthropology or classics -- on the right of sanctuary -- the right of a suppliant to find protection in a holy place?
Besides the Pythagoreans, is there evidence of an ancient Greek religious or ethical obligation to have children?
October 17, 2023 at 3:24 AM
Besides the Pythagoreans, is there evidence of an ancient Greek religious or ethical obligation to have children?
Tomorrow: Marquette Midwest Seminar In Ancient And Medieval Philosophy, we will be joined (online) by Dr. Takashi Oki (PhD Oxford 2006). this Thursday October 52023, 3:30-5:30 pm US Central Time. Dr. Oki will be speaking on "Aristotle on the Infinite". ask me for link,
October 4, 2023 at 8:26 PM
Tomorrow: Marquette Midwest Seminar In Ancient And Medieval Philosophy, we will be joined (online) by Dr. Takashi Oki (PhD Oxford 2006). this Thursday October 52023, 3:30-5:30 pm US Central Time. Dr. Oki will be speaking on "Aristotle on the Infinite". ask me for link,
Just finished "If I Forget Thee Jerusalem" (original title The Wild Palms) by Faulkner. That must be the grimmest book I every read.
It gives some context to the struggle for women's reproductive freedom.
It gives some context to the struggle for women's reproductive freedom.
October 2, 2023 at 4:25 AM
Just finished "If I Forget Thee Jerusalem" (original title The Wild Palms) by Faulkner. That must be the grimmest book I every read.
It gives some context to the struggle for women's reproductive freedom.
It gives some context to the struggle for women's reproductive freedom.
I've been following up some of the explorations of GER Lloyd on how structural anthropology can shed light on the origins of Greek science and philosophy -- see stuff on my Academia page for links -- and figure I must learn more anthropological theory. Malefit's Image of Man -- a good start
September 21, 2023 at 7:26 PM
I've been following up some of the explorations of GER Lloyd on how structural anthropology can shed light on the origins of Greek science and philosophy -- see stuff on my Academia page for links -- and figure I must learn more anthropological theory. Malefit's Image of Man -- a good start
I have been looking into the literature on the ethics of “human enhancement” – including human/computer interface. There seem to be three main options – it’s interesting to see the affiliations of those who are taking the different views.
September 13, 2023 at 4:47 PM
I have been looking into the literature on the ethics of “human enhancement” – including human/computer interface. There seem to be three main options – it’s interesting to see the affiliations of those who are taking the different views.
I was recently interviewed by the Iranian Journal نقد اندیشه Critique of Thought, on AI and the Metaverse. (This before the release of Chatai.) They asked the questions and stitched answers together to make it look like an essay. I guess that's how these things work.
September 7, 2023 at 4:24 PM
I was recently interviewed by the Iranian Journal نقد اندیشه Critique of Thought, on AI and the Metaverse. (This before the release of Chatai.) They asked the questions and stitched answers together to make it look like an essay. I guess that's how these things work.
Does anyone know whether Martha Nussbaum rejects a metaphysical view of (human) nature, is agnostic about it, or simply thinks that in a diverse liberal democracy it is unhelpful and potentially oppressive to make such an appeal. My sense is 1 and 3.
August 25, 2023 at 11:27 PM
Does anyone know whether Martha Nussbaum rejects a metaphysical view of (human) nature, is agnostic about it, or simply thinks that in a diverse liberal democracy it is unhelpful and potentially oppressive to make such an appeal. My sense is 1 and 3.
Not sure why I have not read Bruno Snell until now. He argues that archaic Greeks and those of the heroic (Homeric) period had no inner lives, or at least they did not seem to themselves to have inner lives. The gods are responsible for the emotions leading to action.
August 23, 2023 at 4:46 AM
Not sure why I have not read Bruno Snell until now. He argues that archaic Greeks and those of the heroic (Homeric) period had no inner lives, or at least they did not seem to themselves to have inner lives. The gods are responsible for the emotions leading to action.