John MacDonald


Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death: The Gift of Death chapter 2(a) with Heidegger, Derrida, and Artificial Intelligence

What I would like to do below is read some key passages from the beginning of chapter two and then illuminate them with some thoughts on Heidegger, Derrida, and AI.  Derrida says: What we are here calling the apprehension of death refers as much to the concern, anxious solicitude, care taken for the soul (epimeleia Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death: The Gift of Death chapter 2(a) with Heidegger, Derrida, and Artificial Intelligence

Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death: The Gift of Death chapter 1

Previous Post New Blog Post Series: Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death One of the great mysteries of philosophy’s contact with religion and death since Kierkegaard is the story of Abraham being told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. There are 2 major issues here. On the one hand God has promised Abraham Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death: The Gift of Death chapter 1

New Blog Post Series: Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death

In the last series I talked in good Heideggerian fashion about how our stance/being toward death is going to establish the way in which the human condition unfolds for us. For example, I summarized that: Death is such a wonderful topic in Philosophy, like in Plato’s dialogues or Heidegger’s Being and Time.  Of course, most New Blog Post Series: Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death

Is There Free Will? Edouard Tahmizian Interviews Richard Carrier on Freethinker Podcast

Check out Freethinker Podcast host Edouard Tahmizian’s shy-of-an-hour discussion with Richard Carrier about the metaphysical impossibility of libertarian free will. Our actions are aimed at fulfilling our desires; but where did our desires come from? Did we choose our desires, or simply discover that we had them? As Carrier notes, if you reason from premises Is There Free Will? Edouard Tahmizian Interviews Richard Carrier on Freethinker Podcast

Holiday Post Series: Divine/Demonic Possession and the Heart of Christianity

Jesus’ exorcism of the Gerasene Demoniac, wiki BACKGROUND: Greek had several terms that could describe a person undergoing divine or demonic possession, though the concepts often overlapped since spirits (daimones) were not always strictly categorized as benevolent or malevolent in pre-Christian contexts. Divine possession typically implied inspiration, ecstasy, or being filled with a god’s presence Holiday Post Series: Divine/Demonic Possession and the Heart of Christianity