The realist school: An emerging paradigm

First published on 14 June 2022. Sometimes, intellectual thought undergoes a rupture that cannot be stopped. It does not matter how much you resist the conceptual tsunami, or how far you run. It will tear down what you know, and force any remaining ideas to cluster around the victorious Noah’s ark of the God-given intellectual … Continue reading The realist school: An emerging paradigm →

‘This house regrets the Obama years.’ Draft speech from my university years

A draft speech for a Cambridge Union debate a while back. Thank you Mr./Mme. Speaker. Perhaps the favourite book of my teenage years was Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, given to me as it happens by my own father. I, and I think I speak for many in this room, think hope is an … Continue reading ‘This house regrets the Obama years.’ Draft speech from my university years →

The end of time: The Heidegger-Cassirer debate and the passage from trade to war

First published in August 2022. Philosopher Immanuel Kant is often referred to as the god of modern philosophy. A recent work of intellectual history by Professor Michael Rosen, entitled The Shadow of God: Kant, Hegel, and the passage from heaven to history, considers the end of Christendom and the replacement of its accompanying hegemony of … Continue reading The end of time: The Heidegger-Cassirer debate and the passage from trade to war →

My February prophecy of the evolution of the crisis with Russia and China, and my hopes for the future of music and politics

In February on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I wrote a piece which prophesied the recent turn towards more American antagonism towards China and more suspicion of the strategy of aggression towards Russia fuelled by Nato’s expansion. Now prominent academics are speaking out — using the language I used at the time, namely … Continue reading My February prophecy of the evolution of the crisis with Russia and China, and my hopes for the future of music and politics →

‘I Didn’t Do Enough’: A defining moment in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List

First published on 9 September 2022. Schindler’s List is one of the most compelling moments in movie history. Steven Spielberg took on the daunting task of depicting not only the most evil of crimes in human history, the Holocaust, but also the attempt by Oskar Schindler to save anyone he could from the cataclysm. Schindler’s … Continue reading ‘I Didn’t Do Enough’: A defining moment in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List →

A critique of cathedralism: Why conspiracy theory doesn’t make sense of contemporary capitalism

First published on 30 June 2022. It is popular in universities to denounce conspiracy theories as inherently evil descendants of twentieth-century totalitarianism. I don’t wish to make a judgement on this specific point, because each side is polarised to the point that they deal in different narrations of history. To overcome this empirical war, I … Continue reading A critique of cathedralism: Why conspiracy theory doesn’t make sense of contemporary capitalism →

Hobbes, the Person of the State, and the Beginnings of Balance

In the beginning, there was a simple thing — be that nothing, something, or everything at once. From this simple, eternal implosion of reality exploded the elaborate fantasy of this divided physical realm. Perhaps even then there were seeds of division immanent to the physicality of this world. Before time and space, however, can we … Continue reading Hobbes, the Person of the State, and the Beginnings of Balance →

Darwin, Marx, Mearsheimer: Towards a theory of social evolution

I have an interest in the connection between two theories. At school, I developed an interest in theories of international relations, including Mearsheimer’s structural realist theory of great power politics. At university, I developed an interest in political economy, particularly Marx’s theory in that field. My tentative thesis title was: ‘Darwin, Marx, and the evolving … Continue reading Darwin, Marx, Mearsheimer: Towards a theory of social evolution →

On the inevitability of illusion

It is often said that the pessimism of the intellect is met with the optimism of the will. I’d like to disagree. I think pessimism is the best motivator for action, and the best condition of contemplation, for a common reason: the inevitability of illusion. The sun of illumination, and the arena of illusion. Once … Continue reading On the inevitability of illusion →

On the poetry of purgatory

One of the best movies I’ve seen is The Pianist, directed by Roman Polanski. It reminds me of some other movies I’ve seen, like Moonlight and Parasite. The difference is that these brilliant films conclude with more-or-less utter hopelessness, while The Pianist ends with the ambiguous hope of music. Other films also do this, to … Continue reading On the poetry of purgatory →