About

I’m not sure what the purpose of this website is. Ostensibly it’s a place where I can share my writing. But what is the purpose of that? What is the ‘that for the sake of which’ this is done? It is not money because I will not sell it. It is not recognition because I do not want it. Is it to teach? But who will learn? Can it be taught? And if it can be taught, is it something that can be taught on the internet, or is it more like swimming?

And am I so sure I should teach what I have to offer? It’s not as if they can’t learn about Socrates elsewhere. And besides, it’s not clear that it will help people. Most people are better made to feel better by empty platitudes and placebos with a small grain of truth. Those that need and benefit from real philosophy are rare and they will likely find their own way to it in time.

But for me it is a necessary thing. I am someone who understands the necessity of the solution that philosophy provides and because of that I take it seriously. I could not do without it. I would not be here without it. And so I will continue to do it because it’s what I do: I think things through. I look to find true beliefs about what really matters and make some attempt at living in accordance with those beliefs, and to make this clearer I try to capture these thoughts by finding the right words in the right order. That’s what I share on this website. But don’t mistake this writing as the proper product of philosophical activity. It isn’t. My life and conduct are the product, and that’s not something you show with words; writing is just a part of that process.

This process is of great benefit to me, but I think that is my business: why should I share it? I have no good answer to that question. I suspect sharing will only bring me trouble. (If you are of no use, what trouble can anyone cause you?) I am already troubled by it because I am aware that I am doing what Socrates would not do, and I would agree with his reasons for not doing so. So why would I do it?

In the end I’m called out of my confusion by a logician’s appeal to consistency. I believe good philosophy to be good and amongst the most important of things. I would say that it is priceless, in that it costs nothing but is worth everything. But if I think it is of such great and inestimable value, how can I be content to neglect it or let it be neglected?

And so all I can say is that I think these things should be more widely known. Perhaps what I’ve written can help in that regard.

Do you need to know who I am? I’m not sure you do. I do, of course, as the Delphic maxim instructs. But what good does it do, for either of us, to parade myself?

I care for my family, I work on a farm, and I pursue philosophy as a way of life. I make an attempt at being a student of Socrates, and whilst I don’t expect to be an Epictetus or a Socrates, it’s enough for me that I don’t lag behind.

The one thing I miss from academia is peer-review. It is the only marker of respectability in that world that I think has some actual value. And so I welcome it here: please contact me if you have any helpful comments or legitimate corrections. (Please note that this is an invitation to peer-review, not idle criticism. I would like to discover my errors but I have no interest in discovering yours.)