Archive for 2009Page 2
The Ontology of the Grocery Store
A recent conversation about the location of kielbasa prompted me to haul out this piece, from one of our 2002 issues. Last summer, I went to three grocery stores in Maine, looking for cornmeal, before I finally realized I was looking in the wrong place. This experience solidified for me the realization that grocery stores […]
The “Kant Played BILLIARDS? Kafka has RESORT???” Issue
poh vol 3 no 1_001 Okay, Kafka doesn’t really have a resort, but it turns out Kant DID play billiards. We just went to Maine (Peg and Lisa) and New Mexico (Peg, Lisa and Abby), looked for a job (Peg), encountered the Devil’s Advocate (Abby), mourned the death of one of the Two Fat Ladies […]
The epistemology of a chanterelle
Nothing reconfirms one’s sense that knowledge really is justified true belief[1] like a wild mushroom. And nothing illustrates its absence like a wild mushroom either. A pile of chanterelles has reduced me to a Cartesian, convinced that certain knowledge of the (fixed, mind independent) mushroom world is possible. And utterly convinced that I do not […]
The “Theory of Not Dancing” Issue
poh vol 2 no 3_001 This issue brings you Lisa’s philosophical arguments for why she does not ever vamos a bailar. It’s inspired by a brilliantly funny piece, “The Theory of Not Gardening,” by Leszek Kolakowski (may he rest in peace). Peg spends some time philosophizing on the job market, something in whose clutches she […]
Dream job #1: Unexpected Dinner
With this post, I initiate a new, occasional feature in Philosophers on Holiday, “Dream Jobs.” In the midst of this economic recession, I find that my thoughts cannot help but drift in the direction of the utterly fantastical and highly unworkable. Dream Jobs are just such things; they couldn’t ever really work except in your […]
The “Isn’t that the notorious Hollywood Gang?” issue
poh vol III number 2-3_001 This issue welcomes the Hometown Tourist, an occasional feature (isn’t everything in this zine occasional?) starring one of our moms. This one showcases Ann O’Connor, in a tale of the first female attorney in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Add in a trip to the Trapp Family Lodge (Stowe, Vermont), a spicy […]
In honor of the August full moon
You’ve seen him. He’s that guy you overheard at the lunch table the other day, going on and on about the Bay of Fundy (“Did you know that the difference between high and low there is 48 feet? That’s a four storey building!”). The one you overheard at that dinner party, bragging about his clock, […]
Volume III, Number 4: China to Waco
poh vol III number 4_001 Ethiopia. China. Scotland (Maryland). Northampton, Mass. Waco, Texas. (Waco, Texas??) Vummanhood. Cell phones. Trains. Glad Corn. Fear of flying. The Natural Ontological Attitude (in fragrance form). Leonard Harris. Joanna Crosby. Brita DeRemee. Abby Wilkerson. The late, lamented Ed’s Sunset Superette. It’s all here, folks.
Poems in honor of Tilde’s Bear
Last night Tilde sat, erect, in front of the screen door, staring intently out at the meadow behind our house. I opened the door, she scampered out and stood, growling and barking…at a bear! In honor of her bear sighting–the second one since she’s lived with us–we’ve composed some haiku. (Say…do you suppose haiku composition […]
Leszek Kolakowski, Theorist of Not Gardening
The Polish-born philosopher Leszkek Kolakowski died on July 17, at age 81. Kolakowski was a prolific writer whose works examined topics ranging from Spinoza to Bergson to Husserl and Marxism to seventeenth century Christianity. Here at Phil on Hol, however, he was beloved for a short, satirical work, “The General Theory of Not Gardening,” which […]