https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/the-writers-almanac-for-monday-may-4-2026/
American Philosophy & Culture
Supporting the study, critique, and appreciation of American philosophy and culture--"American Studies"-- in the tradition of William James, John Dewey, Charles Sanders Peirce, Emerson, Thoreau, et al... This site was constructed initially to support an Independent Readings course at Middle Tennessee State University in the Spring 2021 semester.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Win a victory
https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/the-writers-almanac-for-monday-may-4-2026/
I Am An American Philosopher: Phil Oliver – Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy
Summer rerun season is already here, evidently. https://american-philosophy.org/i-am-an-american-philosopher-interview-series/i-am-an-american-philosopher-phil-oliver/
Monday, May 4, 2026
Rebecca Solnit, grateful meliorist
A more-than-perfunctory acknowledgments section: “I’m grateful to everyone who refused to surrender in advance. To those who persevered when the future seemed dark, who saw the night as the time in which we dream and grow, who became torches or North Stars when we needed illumination or direction. To all the visionary souls and heroes who made the changes this book tries to describe. To all those making the shifts toward a better world now, the ones just coming into focus or that we’ll see clearly in ten or fifty or a hundred years, the ones that make the news and the ones that happen in secret and touch one life or protect one place. To everyone who keeps looking, hoping, working. To those who know that while we can’t save everything, everything we can save matters.” — The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change by Rebecca Solnit https://a.co/05UCr0gN
Friday, May 1, 2026
Vitalism
...
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/opinion/donald-trump-animal-spirits.html?smid=em-share
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Stewart Brand, Maintenance: Of Everything - The Ezra Klein Show
At 87, Stewart says, self-maintenance is nearly a full-time job.
Stewart Brand might be the most influential philosopher of the internet – at least in its more idealistic era. In the 1960s, Brand was the central bridge figure between the San Francisco counterculture and the emerging technology scene. He created the legendary Trips Festival with Ken Kesey in 1966, and was there at “the mother of all demos” in 1968. And he created and edited the Whole Earth Catalog, which Steve Jobs called “one of the bibles of my generation” and “Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along.”
Brand has seen Silicon Valley evolve in the decades since. And along the way, he has written many brilliant books about our relationship to technology, the built environment and the natural world. His latest book is “Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One.”
In this conversation, we discuss everything from dropping acid to the genesis of the Whole Earth Catalog, what he thinks A.I. will reveal about humanity, the 40 years he’s spent living on a tugboat and the importance of maintenance in a culture that prizes novelty and disposability.
Mentioned:
Ezra is moderating a forum on housing and affordability with some of the top California gubernatorial candidates. The event is on Friday, May 8, in Oakland, CA. You can buy tickets here. Use the code EKSHOWfor 20 percent off your order.
Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One by Stewart Brand
“We Didn’t Ask for This Internet” with Cory Doctorow and Tim Wu, The Ezra Klein Show
I And Thou by Martin Buber
Book Recommendations:
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch
The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester
The Scottish Enlightenment by Arthur Herman
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447Sunday, April 19, 2026
William James on selfhood
Dr. Dianda’s Lyceum address was excellent, effectively making the Jamesian point that a complex and multi-relational self is rarely “fractured” beyond repair. https://bsky.app/profile/wjsociety.bsky.social/post/3mjuygvzmjk2b
Thursday, April 9, 2026
MTSU’s April 17 Applied Philosophy Lyceum speaker to explore the ‘fractured self’
Monday, April 6, 2026
I Am An American Philosopher: Scott Pratt – Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy
https://american-philosophy.org/i-am-an-american-philosopher-scott-pratt/
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
HENRY DAVID THOREAU TO AIR ON PBS MARCH 2026
Source: About PBS - Main
https://share.google/1hsIbj4ladm6L9CHF
Win a victory
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Dr. Phil Oliver -- phil.oliver@mtsu.edu James Union Building (JUB) 300 Our course explores American philosophy in the context of American cu...
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