Dan Speak

On getting stuck, from time to time, in a Borges short story:

A few days left for our call for papers on Philosophy through Art, Games and Fiction, dedicated to Helen De Cruz think.taylorandfranc... I am convinced that being playful and creative makes us better philosophers. Prove me right! #philsky #philosophy

I strongly suspect that Healthline’s experts have massively under-estimated my antecedent determinations of dangerousness.

Welcome to the club, fellas.

Maybe for the best. Just get it out of the way. They are coming for me eventually; no reason to draw it out. Same vibes here as @lorispeak.bsky.social who is dedicated simply to letting the velociraptors catch her immediately in any Jurassic Park scenario. Too exhausting staving off the inevitable.

Here’s a cool project at Loyola Marymount University, if I do say so myself:

I always enjoy it when students show me the sketches they produce during our class lectures and discussions. But this was next level:

Here’s how public discourse among morally and intellectually serious interlocutors should go. (See thread). Lots of good intellectual character here. Thanks @thesarahrose.bsky.social for leading the way in tone and patience. (Lots of details still to work out but this is the way).

“Many ideas that enjoy enormous popularity among billionaires—cryogenic immortality, disregard for punctuation, the Antichrist—have scandalously been excluded from our labs and classrooms.” www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wer...

@dieworkwear.bsky.social showing how to do all the important stuff: dress well, speak truth to shlumpy power, and be a good son.

Let’s go philosophers of mind and emotion! @nicolecrust.bosky.social is really asking for help about “mood.” (And we philosophers might reciprocate more generally by asking as graciously for help from our empirically-informed friends about our topics, when it’s relevant) #philsky

A quick list of some of my favorite active female philosophers (in no meaningful order): @larabuchak.net, Linda Zagzebski, Christine Korsgaard, Eleonore Stump, Heather Battaly, Meghan Sullivan, Angela Smith, Pamela Hieronymi, Dana Nelkin, L.A.Paul, Carissa Phillips-Garrett, Marcela Garcia Romero…

A very good call.

This is neat. Surprised to be this close to the genuinely cool folks in contemporary visual arts:

Nearly certain I’ll be getting a few “I wouldn’t buy green bananas if I were you” comments from students and grandkids over the next couple of weeks.

Feature, not bug.

An intriguing objection looming here to Aristotle’s view that no one should study politics (ethics) until they are 30-ish.

Oh, yeah, that ancient Roman festival of purification called Februa, after which February got its name. Celebrations have been replaced by protests in our times, but the aim remains the same: to expel evil spirits.

“With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED”

“The amount of mental space we must give to these horrid affairs just to keep them at bay is appalling. We were created for more than this.” sojo.net/articles/opi...

Truer words have rarely been interwebbed.

ICE delenda est.

ICE delenda est.

A crisp symmetry defense of the moral right to resistance: publicseminar.org/2026/01/the-...

Grateful for the ent-draughts that appear to be strengthening those cleansing the twin cities Shire.

Man, Du Bois had some bangers, but for me, it doesn't get much better than his scathing indictment of the "Christianity" of the United States. Certainly this was all true of the nation in his lifetime. But in my lifetime, his criticisms have never felt so true of the nation right now.

Tonight at family dinner my 3-year-old asked, “Dad how can we help judges in the penumbra? What can we do to get courts to incorporate morality but still respect the sources thesis? We need to protect America against inclusive legal positivism.”

I’m almost embarrassed to admit how hyped up I am for this. Someone with humane moral sensibilities, crisp sports insight… and baking skills (aspirations)!

Philly showing up today, even in the rain. Eli and I are proud to stand with millions around the country as we say “ABOLISH ICE.” Once again, Philadelphia — “the City of Love” — makes it clear. Immigrants are welcome here. ICE is NOT.

Play-doh and Iceland both need to be worried about the ignorance and incompetence of this regime.

Will be co-teaching a course on “ethics of public life” starting in two weeks. May need to make some changes to the draft syllabus…

Book I would take an oath on

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, One Alice In Chains

Nerve struck!

Have you been wondering about how to develop good intellectual character? Say no more; I’m here for you…

Robin is the best!! A beloved colleague— and a philosophical force-of-nature in her own right.

“[i]t is indeed difficult to interpret as hope the idolatry which immense, fascinated masses show for leaders who have previously, by ceaseless propaganda, succeeded in paralyzing not only any critical spirit in their minions, but all true sense of values.” —Marcel (1945-ish, but still landing)

How are the philosophers thinking about this? Are we boycotting JPhil, et al? #philsky

“Buckley spends much of his public life riding into battle on behalf of a League of Extraordinary Assholes…” defector.com/william-f-bu...

Seems both true and explanatorily powerful:

Viva le France!