Joshua Howard

Interested in Durkheimian sociology, cosmopolitical economy, cinematic space, the metropolis and mental life (and an occasional Jerry Fodor stan)

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

Ockham and the language of thought

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@HistoryBoomer Are you willing to say who your favorite candidate is?

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@SteveDavies365 …the edges, some mercantilism but there doesn’t seem a lot of commitment behind the full project to sustain this for very long. This could be the death knell of nat con as “second party” status for all we know.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@SteveDavies365 Yes I agree. The nat con/globalism axis is the overarching one today. As an impulse. In the cultural sphere. On some social issues. I just don’t see these econ policies having a strong social base or a wide enough political bench. I mean lip service, sure, some changes around…

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@SteveDavies365 …political actors are controlled by economic elites but whether or not, after a load of pain, they could even achieve their plans. This is a big test of the autonomy of politics and limits of political will.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@SteveDavies365 …the fact, as you point out, that this project won’t work means that in some real sense it is economic structures and economic *laws* that are still determinant or upstream of political possibilities. Surely a really important question underlying all this is not whether or not…

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@seanonolennon Yes, we speak of things that matter / Of words that must be said / Can analysis be worthwhile? / Is the theatre really dead?

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

Truth

[Seán Ono Lennon @seanonolennon]

Hardcore by Pulp is so good all I have to do is think of it and I get choked up.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@polanskydj It’s from 2023

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@enzoreds What percentage of philosophy PhDs would Korsgaard have given the same advice to? I’m sure it’s st least like 90%.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@kilovh Feyerabendians always say this. They go to such lengths debunking myths about science on the level of epistemology but then say I’m not saying all comers are epistemically of equal value but never say how they are not all of equal epistemic value. Maybe stop doing epistemology.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@bernardtjoy Pynchon? Personally I read every novel as if the author died 150 years ago and so don’t care in the least about their private lives.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@Helenreflects Dark City, Videodrome, Kafka, Lost Highway, and maybe π

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@CrispinSartwell An early favorite of mine. I grew out of him long before I gave up on Marxism, but still had some admiration for some of his work. In fairness his totalitarianism wasn't really noticeable until later. Or at least I didn't see it until later. Maybe I wasn't reading closely enough.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@HistoryBoomer Shots fired in the general direction of the Bronx

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@dickens432 How does one get to pay to live in people's heads? I want in on a little of that.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@seth_abrutyn I'm only signing on if Bourdieu goes too

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

Love how philosophers decide that actual socially instituted political structures that sociologists study are fake but their moral beliefs, which far less than 1% of the humans who have ever existed believed, are objectively real facts.

[Liam Bright @lastpositivist]

Imma be real, I don't really think political legitimacy is an actual normative thing. Like obvs I grant that some institutions, persons, or groups, are actually treated as if they may legitimately wield authority. But I think it's always fake, a silk glove over a fist.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

@Lasermazer @buffsoldier_96 Well, I do think social systems can be organic but the point is that they exhibit emergent behaviors and it's best to avoid metaphor and specify how it works. So long as you don't say the ant colony wants this or everything that happens happens because the ant colony needs it.

[Joshua Howard @simplyockham]

Sometimes a New Yorker cover is just a New Yorker cover. Treating it like an inkblot is just revealing your own symptoms and making it into a device to command a week's worth of moralistic podcasting.