From Socrates to the Present Day, Those Who Know That They Don’t Know Possess a Type of Freedom That Is Rare The Oracle at Delphi told Socrates that he was wisest man in Athens because he alone had the wisdom to admit that he did not know things rather than…

Are you a visual learner? This immersive, 53-minute experience brings the text to life — I’m excited to announce that, in partnership with LIT Video Books, the new videobook of Wanting—my book about why people want the things theyd want, drawing on the mimetic theory of the famous social theorist René Girard—is out now. The videobook is a 53-minute production narrated by me and a…

Are they a ritualistic status game or a gathering place for people interested in learning and meeting others? — This past week, interest has piqued around the idea of “life as game” — namely, life as a giant game of status and recognition. A depressing thought. Ezra Klein interviewed C. Thi Nguyen on his podcast (episode title: “A Philosophy of Games That Is Really a Philosophy of Life”). And…

The Orthodoxy of Heterodoxy—or what the social theorist René Girard has to teach us about the clustering of ideas, even from those who style themselves independent. — Even heterodox thinkers have become predictable in their heterodoxy. There are exclusive clubs to join, like the Heterodox Academy or the Heriticon conference. And one can embark on a particular podcast circuit that is likely to get them branded as a member of the “Intellectual Dark Web.” There is an…

The Seeds of Mark Manson’s Discontent, and a Paradigm for Understanding Desire in a More Comprehensive Way — Yesterday, during a solo dinner at my favorite restaurant in Saugatuck, I read this piece by Benjamin Wallace in NY Mag’s Intelligencer profiling Mark Manson, author of the “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” book, which has sold more than 12 million copies. The essay, titled “How Mark…

Gain spiritual insight by understanding which direction a person tells you they’re moving in—including yourself. — Desire Is Movement I’ve been reading a lot of Augustine recently, partly as research for a (potential) new book project. I was struck to find that, in his Confessions, Augustine describes the period just prior to his conversion experience as one in which mimetic models of desire were the main catalyst.

My Conversation with the writer Thomas J. Bevan on the Making of Anti-Mimetic Art — I first met Thomas J. Bevan, a fascinating writer (because a fascinating person) who is based in a small town in England, after I started spending more time online in the darkest days of the pandemic, 2020. For better or worse, I got back on Twitter seriously for the first…

People are mesmerized with other people due to a force of human psychology that is similar to the force of gravity in physics — An Untold Story Franz Anton Mesmer, a Viennese physician who practiced medicine shortly after Sir Isaac Newton, was fascinated by the corollary between the psychological ‘movements’ he observed in the world and the physical effects Newton described in his theory of gravity. Could there by a relationship between the two, he wondered?

A New Series on My Alternative Investments — This is the first edition in a new series that I plan to publish periodically called “What I Invested In”. I mean ‘invest’ in the broadest sense possible. The list might include a list of noteable essays or books that I’ve read since the last edition, along with new dishes…