#OUP Philosophy

[captainofthetidesbreath]

noooo, I wanna see the OUP be bureaucratic assholes! go back!

[missemymorales]

AI vs. humans, when creation and creator share communication skills.

I have to say that I wasn’t dying to attend a talk on AI. I’m a late adopter, I don’t like the idea of not knowing anyone more experienced than me. But it was suggested from my boss so I attended. Here’s my takeaway. Apparently, one of the features that aroused awareness on the topic is the ability AI has to “master” language. Our creation is now creating content. Our creation learns faster than…

[insidedreams-blog]

One of the central questions of philosophy is: what is knowledge and how do we get it? John Locke and his successors in the empiricist tradition argued that the foundation of contingent knowledge about the world lies in sensory experience – the use of the five senses, aided when necessary by instruments such as telescopes and the like. With this Russell agrees. But empiricism faces challenge from skeptical arguments aimed at showing that our claims to knowledge might often – perhaps always – be unjustified. There are various reasons for this. We sometimes commit errors in perceiving or reasoning, we sometimes dream without knowing that we are dreaming, we are sometimes deluded because of the effects of fever or alcohol. How, on any occasion of claiming to know something, can we be sure that the claim is not undermined in any of these ways?

GRAYLING, A. C. , Russell. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford. OUP. 2002. (Page 65).

[nikator]

Readings, 2023

I didn’t read as much or as widely in 2023 as I had hoped, but what I did read mostly followed a through-line of free-spiritedness, pessimism, and absurdism as part of researching for a theory on the critique of everyday life I’ve been working on. This has involved reading more fiction than in the last few years, which I’ve definitely enjoyed, and finally getting around to several authors I’d been meaning to read for years. A fun reading year I’ve already begun furthering in 2024.

1. Camus, Albert. “Exile and the Kingdom.” Translated by Justin O’Brien. The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays, by Albert Camus, Everyman’s Library, 2004 [1957], pp. 357–488

A strong collection of short stories, each full of a sense of unease, ennui, melancholy, estrangement/alienation, and even madness. I enjoyed them, though they never fully clicked with me. Above all, they felt substantial, considered, and carefully constructed; perhaps too carefully, as they all had a sense of detachment that seemed a little at odds with their subjects.

2. Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince. Edited by Peter Bondanella, translated by Peter Bondanella, OUP, 2008 [ca. 1513] (re-read)

Re-reading The Prince for a second time in less than six months (this time for a seminar rather than myself) was very enjoyable, which is a testament to Machiavelli’s literary skills. Some of the things which stood out to me on this reading more than on previous ones: Machiavelli’s artistic talent, the work being full of tight little sentences both beautiful and cutting; the metaphor of applied sciences (arts), above all medicine; the sheer ubiquity of his implicit republicanism; the degree to which he offers ethical maxims—in the tradition of Nietzsche or La Rochefoucauld—for life that can be more or less applied by anyone. My conviction of the centrality of this little book for all political reasoning, science, and practice only grows. An endlessly fertile work. Bondanella’s translation is tight, evocative, stylish, and still by far the best I’ve come across.

3. Anderson, Perry. Considerations on Western Marxism. Verso, 1979

An accessible and easy introductory essay for the tradition, striking a balance—mostly but not entirely successfully—between productive criticism and productive encouragement. However, Anderson fails and never properly even attempts, despite claiming he would, to establish the coherency and meaningfulness of the concept of Western Marxism itself, without which the work is a little disjointed.

4. La Rochefoucauld, François de. “Moral Reflections or Sententiae and Maxims: fifth edition, 1678”, “Maxims Finally Withdrawn by La Rochefoucauld”, “Maxims Never Published by La Rochefoucauld”. Collected Maxims and Other Reflections, by François de La Rochefoucauld, OUP, 2008 [1664–78], pp. 1–191

Technically sharp, tight, incisive; a wonderful representative of the aphoristic ethical tradition and a refreshing kind of urbane cynicism concerned with living well, i.e., with happiness. Very much begs for re-reading, especially because so much of it will inevitably go over your head on first reading, an inevitable risk of short (or even longer) aphorisms.

5. Cioran, E. M. A Short History of Decay. Translated by Richard Howard, Penguin, 2018 [1949]

Cioran is meant to be lyrically very talented, and certainly there are many aphorisms in this short work that are indeed artistically excellent, but there are also a lot (I’d say slightly more) which I found clumsy. I got the impression he was trying too hard and that where he succeeded it was as much from brute strength as learnt skill. Linked to this, philosophically speaking there were plenty of interesting ideas and themes, but they were insufficiently built upon; the aphoristic form was, I feel, misused here, and worked to undermine rather than reinforce the philosophy. The book felt underwhelming compared to his high reputation. Overall, a good book, definitely worth reading and both a notable product of its time and place and a work for the present, a more than worthwhile study of life’s groundlessness and aporias, but not the masterpiece I’d been hoping for.

6. Cioran, E. M. All Gall Is Divided. Translated by Richard Howard, Arcade, 2019 [1952]

A much stronger work than A Short History of Decay: artistically far superior, masterful in its hyper-short aphoristic form. Even through the prism of a translation, it’s clear that Cioran became much more comfortable writing in French in the three years between the two: the sentences run better, are more careful, more economical, more impactful. In terms of the philosophical content, having finished the book I feel unsure about what it was actually saying, as if it wasn’t saying much at all. I think this is a limitation of such short aphorisms when they're taken in isolation and not used as part of (perhaps prompts for) discussion, philosophy being an inherently dialogic art; I prefer the longer form used by the likes of Nietzsche and Adorno and, indeed, the Cioran of A Short History. Nevertheless, All Gall Is Divided picks up where A Short History of Decay left off, continuing the call for a moderate and moderating scepticism and rejecting fanaticism and faith. As ever, the pessimists are the more respectful and kind thinkers...

7. Althusser, Louis. Machiavelli and Us. Edited by Francois Matheron, translated by Gregory Elliott, Verso, 2011 [1962–86]

A fantastic study of Machiavelli and his materialism; an immensely strong justification of his absolute centrality for materialist analysis and politics. The reading of Machiavelli as the first theorist of political practice as such is especially strong and important, as is the closely related interpretation of his approach and practice as being one of locating specific, concrete conjunctural situations—exactly as a Leninist does—and, sub specie historiae, identifying programmatic tasks immanent in that conjuncture and establishing (and judging) means and aims only with reference to that task, not with reference to whichever subjectively-determined goals the political agent might have as he’s often thought to do (a “vulgar pragmatism”, Althusser calls it). A brilliant, short, essayistic book, strong both as an analysis of Machiavelli per se and (mostly implicitly) as a guide to how he can and must be used by communists.

8. Tartt, Donna. The Little Friend. Bloomsbury, 2002

I read this at random to try and get back into long novels after years of avoiding them, and hopefully it's succeeded because The Little Friend is a great book. Its central characters—especially the protagonist, Harriet, the best child character I’ve read in a very long time—are rich and convincing, its atmosphere and sense of place are perfect, and the sadness and misery which pervades it are excellently handled. The ending is delightfully brutal, a gorgeous flurry of violence. The social criticism that is present throughout just beneath the surface is also well used to set the mood and context, though I would say is a little underdeveloped and maybe somewhat crude, though the perspective of a child is responsible for a lot of that crudeness and so isn’t necessarily a weakness.

9. West, M. L., editor. Greek Lyric Poetry: The Poems and Fragments of the Greek Iambic, Elegiac, and Melic Poets (excluding Pindar and Bacchylides) Down to 450 BC. Translated by M. L. West, OUP, 2008

West's translation is often fairly loose in order to make the poems more comprehensible to a modern audience, and while that's usually something I don't like I have to say he's done a good job here. Arranging the poets chronologically (as much as is possible, anyway) really lets you see the cultural change that occurred over the centuries covered, as old, barbaric, Dionysian Greece gave way to a younger, more sterile, more civilised, more Apollonian regime. Throughout, however, the poets have a profound sense of intimacy and place, a true glimpse at a different way of life and the ephemeral pleasures of a long-gone world. The universal embracing of all the poets—from the oldest to the most recent—of sexual desire in general, without qualification of the sex of the target of that desire, is very stark, and a wonderful demonstration that our modern conception of sexuality is historically relative and must one day fall— we can only hope to be replaced by something much closer to the profound wisdom of the ancient erotic principle. Despite the translation's best attempts and the palpable skill of the poets, a lot of the work here does come across as quite dry, sadly, bereft as it is of its native metre and the accompanying music it was meant for, to say nothing of the social context it was written to be enjoyed in or the extremely fragmentary status of so much of it. But even so, there are throughout stunning fragments of beautiful verse, from little clusters of word combinations that seem to come out of nowhere to whole sustained works that, by some miracle, have come down to us through the millennia. I read this above all to get a better feeling for ancient Greek culture, and in this Greek Lyric Poetry succeeds: it is the collected beauty of a different way of life that can decisively inform our struggle for a new one.

10. Lucretius Carus, Titus. On the Nature of the Universe. Translated by Ronald Melville, OUP, 2008 [ca. 50BC]

Lucretius’ achievement in writing De rerum natura is difficult to comprehend. Simultaneously a powerful cosmology that is barely out of date and a guide to living which remains nearly peerless, it combines, as all good philosophy should, wonderful content with wonderful form, but the degree of his artistic skill is so total that it easily puts him at the summit of philosophical writing, alongside such giants as Nietzsche and Plato. This edition is very strong, with an excellent translation, a very competent introduction, and a large number of explanatory notes that are formatted in a way that doesn’t impact reading the main text at all. Why Melville has translated the title as On the Nature of the Universe, rather than the ubiquitous On the Nature of Things, I don’t know; it’s a strange choice. Maybe he wanted to emphasise the scope of the work, and the universe comes across as more magisterial than “things”? But his translation is excellent, very readable, beautiful.

The subtle, stunningly intelligent atomic physics that Lucretius communicates in such beautiful and evocative ways is amazingly prescient and perceptive. The degree to which it presaged central discoveries of modern science is exhilarating and leaves me a little speechless. To name only a few standout points from the first book: entropy (1.215); the conservation of matter/energy (1.215–25); relativism about time (1.458); molecules (1.483); subatomic particles (1.610). These are things which Lucretius hypothesises on the basis of a masterful combination of observation, experimentation, and reasoning, i.e., upon genuinely scientific grounds. The maturity and sophistication of the entire enterprise is staggering. Among the many, many things that Lucretius is, he is irrefutable evidence that the people who lived even in the distant past were not stupid, and knew how to discover fundamental truths about their world. In so doing he’s also a fantastic standard-bearer for philosophy: this is what our subject can do! See what we can achieve! See what we can know! See our triumph!

His more overtly “philosophical” principles are even more impressive, his atomism, no matter how stunning, being now (after millennia!) outdated. Among such vital and still cutting-edge principles as the causal closure of the physical (1.304) and determination in the last instance (1.546), Lucretius puts forward the genius of Epicureanism in full force: the harmlessness of death, the ubiquitous misery of fearing death, the ease and goodness of viewing death with ambivalence and contempt and carelessness; hedonism; opposition to romance as a social regime (something even Marxists haven’t fully recognised!); opposition to religion (the criticisms of religion in De rerum natura are extremely powerful and gorgeous, heartfelt and motivated by an intoxicating humanism and love and so disgust at the wound that religion is for men), and on and on.

I simply cannot lavish enough praise on De rerum natura. It comes within a hair’s breadth of perfection, being pulled down only by a brief lapse into misogyny and lazy, patriarchal thinking and the affirmation of marriage, something even more disgraceful as, paradoxically and contradictingly, it follows directly on from an unparalleled rejection of romance and the slavery it subjects us to. But even this is confined to a single page. De rerum natura is an entire philosophy for life contained in a relatively short book of poetry: it is a shining jewel of world literature and a defiant, proud demonstration of antiquity’s brilliance and bequeathment to mankind. It remains a live work, begging to be taken up and used in the critical study and critique of the world— communists could learn a great deal from it; Marx’s debt to Lucretius was a good starting point, but it has been criminally underdeveloped. Just beyond brilliant. “Masterpiece” doesn’t even begin to do it justice. Ovid gave some indication, made some attempt, when he wrote that ‘The verses of sublime Lucretius will perish only when a single day brings about destruction of the world’ (Amores 1.15).

11. Cioran, E. M. The Temptation to Exist. Translated by Richard Howard, Arcade Publishing, 2013 [1956]

A strong work of philosophical essay writing, a worthy addition to the French tradition in which Cioran is here attempting to place himself. Lots of interesting ideas skillfully expressed in easy and engaging prose. Cioran’s writing is tight, terse, and considered, and this book has confirmed my judgement from the previous two books of his I read this year that he’s a master of phrases—of little combinations or words—and that this is where his style really excels. In terms of content, The Temptation to Exist definitely has stronger and weaker parts, but rarely falls very far from “good”.

12. Amable, Bruno, and Stefano Palombarini. The Last Neoliberal: Macron and the Origins of France’s Political Crisis. Translated by David Broder and David Fernbach, Verso, 2021 [2018]

Read this in a couple of sittings over a single day, so a relatively easy read. Amable and Palombarini argue that the defining characteristic of the contemporary French social formation is the absence of a dominant social bloc (i.e. voting bloc, support for a party or coalition of parties), and that Macron and LREM are the first to have been able to capitalise on what they call the “bourgeois bloc” of the upper and middle classes who are united by “culturally left/liberal” views and support for European integration.

13. Thacker, Eugene. Infinite Resignation. Repeater, 2018

Infinite Resignation is very easy to read. I read over a hundred pages in a day multiple times, and that’s very unusual for me. I would describe Thacker’s writing style as distinctly “American”: plain, simple, best when it is saying something bluntly, and unsightly when it tries to be artistic and ape the European writers that dominate the book; he’s just not good enough an artist to sound profound when he’s writing a hyper-short aphorism full of pseudo-profound words. But for all this the book is not trivial, and Thacker’s encyclopaedic and constant reference to the long tradition of pessimism adds a huge amount to it. Overall a perhaps surprisingly effective work, one which I’m already in the process of mining for ideas and even some quotations for my main ongoing draft.

14. Lahiri, Jhumpa, editor. The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories. Penguin, 2020

This is a wonderful anthology, full of magic, the fantastical, the strange, the sombre, the melancholy, the poor and the intelligentsia, the city and the countryside, the new and the old, the male and the female, the human and the nonhuman. The selected stories are all excellent, and together convey a really strong sense of Italy and her regionalism, and of it changing over time, with selections from across her modern history as a unified state. There are stories here which are works of unpolished social realism; there are also a large number which come across as something like a fable. All of them make you want to be in love with such an ancient, rich, cultured, and conflicted country, even and especially when you are being shown her ugly underbelly.

15. Kafka, Franz. “The Trial.” The Complete Novels, by Franz Kafka, translated by Edwin Muir and Willa Muir, Vintage Books, 1999 [1915], pp. 11–128

What can one say of Kafka, other than that he is gorgeous? The Trial is a powerful critique of liberalism and capitalist modernity, with the entire system and its well-meaning participants (we might say its bearers— Träger) undercut and subjected to a scathing demystification through the mystifying story. Some interesting things that stood out to me: Joseph K. is unusual for a protagonist in being a very unlikeable person, nothing remarkable but distinctly distasteful and offputting, as well as being the quintessential modern bourgeois; throughout the novel, its recurrent subjects/themes cover, like bullet-points, the central foci of capitalist modernity, most prominently the judiciary and legalism, general bureaucracy, landlordism, the marriage form and monogamy, misogyny/patriarchy, and the interplay between poverty and wealth and their common subjection before the social order itself. The way that Kafka combines form and content is masterful, as the two are always fully in agreement and mutually reinforcing. Even when the gruelling monotony and byzantinism of most of the novel give way without warning to the stochastic, fragmentary, disjointed ending, a product of the book’s incompleteness, it seems almost designed and deliberate, and has a strong emphatic effect.

16. Shawn, Wallace. The Fever. Revised ed., Faber & Faber, 2009 [1990] (re-read; new edition)

The Fever is a brutal work, an emotional powerhouse. It has an amazing power to make you viscerally bleed for the poor and the oppressed, for the downtrodden, for the forgotten and the exploited, and to want to give everything you are to the people and the struggle for freedom. It’s especially cutting for a middle-class reader like the protagonist, for the well-off, for those who think of themselves as good people, because it rips the edifice of money and morality and the liberal order out from under their eyes and shows how the whole regime of wealth and comfort rests upon the backbreaking humiliation and misery of the poor. It’s a cold-hearted, ideologically suffocated person who could read The Fever and not be deeply moved by it and made, even if only for a brief period, to see the world a little differently. Short, sweet like vomit, oppressive like the monsoon heat, it’s a brilliant little play.

I don’t like or agree with several of the revisions made in this edition compared to the original (which I read many years ago); maybe that’s because some of the lines of the original which have been burned into my mind have been erased or altered, but some of the central moments of the play—most of all the little church in the poor country, and the guerilla in the café—seem to me less powerful and direct.

17. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Translated by R. J. Hollingdale, CUP, 1996 [1878–80]

A fantastic work that is a brilliant life companion for the titular free spirits. It’s wonderful to see Nietzsche as a critical but sincere advocate and follower of the natural sciences and the Enlightenment. This is a somewhat short review compared to some of the others on this list, but don’t mistake that for a lacklustre attitude towards the work on my part: it’s more than anything because there is so much—and so much that is good—in these “travel books” as Nietzsche called them that I struggle to think of where to begin with describing them. They are immensely valuable, as is everything by Nietzsche, but spending half a year slowly chewing through these couple of thousand aphorisms has given me a lot, and a huge pool of ideas and references for my writing. They do exhibit marks of underdevelopment, both in content and style, compared to his later, “mature” works, but nonetheless they amount to a very valuable salvo against the world we oppose and of considerable worth irrespective of their place within Nietzsche’s oeuvre.

18. Camus, Albert. “The Myth of Sisyphus.” Translated by Justin O’Brien. The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays, by Albert Camus, Everyman’s Library, 2004 [1942], pp. 489–605

For a work as famous as this is, I wasn’t very impressed by The Myth of Sisyphus. It seemed to me more like an extremely bloated plan for an essay rather than a finished one, complete with critical, central failures, including a failure to ever properly define or characterise vital concepts (including the absurd!) and to even attempt to justify enormous leaps of “argument” (without justification they’re not arguments, only stipulations at best) that are essential to the essay as a whole, most notably the rejection of suicide which is made with a handwaving nonentity of a segway into the rest of the work. The huge amount of space given over to the analysis of works of literature also seemed wildly misplaced and detracted from the essay; the substance of what Camus is arguing with them could be stated in two pages. I agree with a huge amount of what Camus is saying here, just not with really any of the ways in which he is stitching those things together. Reading this has sadly reinforced my preconception that Camus was a good philosophical novelist but a poor philosopher (a distinction he actually conveys well in this essay, ironically enough, including the weakness of the former group’s attempts to fulfil those of the latter— I can’t tell if he thought he was subject to those weaknesses or not, but he was). Nevertheless, the philosophy being put forward here is a strong one, a distinctly Mediterranean foil to the Germanic Nietzsche. The discussion of absurd archetypes, namely the seducer, the actor, and the conquerer, was a particular stand-out that I think offers good strategies for different free spirits. I have been utilising The Myth of Sisyphus a lot in scraps of writing towards my main ongoing piece, I want to emphasise the significance and maturity of its ideas, but as a piece of writing it’s surprisingly poor and lets down its actual position considerably.

19. Camus, Albert. “The Plague.” Translated by Justin O’Brien. The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays, by Albert Camus, Everyman’s Library, 2004 [1947], pp. 1–272

The first chapter of this book has one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever read, a near-perfect building of tension and dread that masterfully begins a masterful story. The teaching of philosophy—and of a philosophy—through fiction is difficult, and in my experience fails more often than it succeeds, but Camus has succeeded to such a degree in The Plague that I’m left feeling like a novel was the best way to present the ideas, stronger than a nonfiction work, stronger than The Myth of Sisyphus. Beautiful and brilliant, the sort of work someone can easily pick up, be awe-struck by, and decide to adopt as their guiding document in life— and be well-chosen in doing so. Everything is as it should be, and the cumulative effect is something like perfect. A sublime book to end the year with.

[oupacademic]

To celebrate #PrideMonth, the OUP Philosophy team honours Michel Foucault (1926-84) as its Philosopher of the Month. Foucault was one of the most influential French philosophers and historians of ideas, best known for his theories on discourses and the relation of power and knowledge. His seminal works, such as History of Madness (1961), Discipline and Punish (1975), and History of Sexuality (1976–84), examine the emergence of the powerful, state institutions (penal, scientific, and medical), and their mechanisms of control. They chart western attitudes towards the insane, criminals, and sexual deviants and consider the ways in which societies have penalized those who are outside the norms.

In History of Sexuality, Foucault famously put forward the view that the homosexual category did not exist until the 19th century. Although same sex relations have been practiced throughout history, people who practised homosexuality were not classified as homosexuals and did not think of themselves in terms of sexuality. He argued that, in fact, there was a proliferation of new medical, juridical, and psychological discourses concerning sex and obsessive discussions about sex, and these led to the construction of sexual identities, designed to regulate rather than suppress sexuality.

An early victim of AIDS, Foucault died in Paris on June 25, 1984 at the age of 57. His theories have had an enormous impact across a range of disciplines from philosophy, literary criticism, anthropology, sociology, gender studies, and queer theory.

Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography by David M. Halperin

Foucault: A Very Short Introduction by Gary Cutting

Thinking the Impossible: French Philosophy Since 1960 by Gary Gutting

The Will to Punish by Didier Fassin and Edited by Christopher Kutz

Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction by Catherine Belsey

Sexual Dissidence by Jonathan Dollimore

Self-Transformations: Foucault, Ethics, and Normalized Bodies by Cressida J. Heyes

The Biopolitics of Gender by Jemima Repo

The Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies edited by Jenny Helin, Tor Hernes, Daniel Hjorth, and Robin Holt

Classical Culture and Modern Masculinity by Daniel Orrells

Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction by Veronique Mottier

‘The Turn to Ethics: Derrida, Levinas, and Foucault’ by Gary Cutting in Thinking the Impossible: French Philosophy Since 1960 from The Oxford Scholarship Online

“Michel Foucault (1926–1984)” by Richard Weiskopf and Hugh Willmott in The Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies from Oxford Handbooks Online

“Modern Sex” in Foucault: A Very Short Introduction from Very Short Introductions

“Difference and Desire” in Postructuralism: A Very Short Introduction from Very Short Introductions

For more on this philosopher,explore our collection for blog posts, articles and reading suggestions. Follow us @OUPPhilosophy on Twitter.

[elizabethanism]

“Alone together, scholar and cat.”

found in Peter Adamson’s OUP volume on medieval philosophy

[traumacatholic]

BA (Hons) Philosophy and the Catholic Tradition at Maryvale Institute Reading List

This list is very long, so I am putting it under a read more.  There was a pdf, but a lot of that contains information like exam dates, module guides, assessment details etc that aren’t relevant. I’ve put all the module titles, and the information they gave for their reading list.

Hopefully this is of use to anyone that’s interested in looking into Catholicism, Philosophy, Theology, or is looking to do a degree in philosophy and/or religion. Please do excuse any typos, I did have to type up a lot of this myself. 

Introduction to Philosophy:

Pope John Paul II 1998 Fides et Ratio CTS London

John-Terry, Chris 1994 For the Love of Wisdom Alba House New York

Beards, Andrew 2003 ‘Philosophy and Evangelization: The Vision of Fides et Ratio’, in the John Redford (editor), Hear O Islands. Veritas Dublin

Peter M Collins Logos Summer 2013 Vol 16:3 Philosophy in Blessed John PaulII’s Catholic University. An Antidote to Relativistic Secularism

Heather Erb Logos Summer 2012 Vol 15:3 The Varieties of Wisdom and the Consolation of Philosophy

Richard A Spinello Logos Summer 2013 Vol 17:3 The Enduring Relevance of Karol Wojtyla’s Philosophy

Mary Midgley 2018 What is Philosophy For? Bloomsbury Michael Dummett 2010 The Nature and Future of Philosophy Columbia University Press

History of Philosophy:

Johansen, Karsten, f 1999 A History of Ancient Philosophy: From the Beginnings to St. Augustine Routledge

Marenbon, John 1983 Early Medieval Philosophy, 480-1150: An Introduction Routledge

French, P., and Wettstein, H., (Editors) 2003 Renaissance and Early - Modern Philosophy

Wiley-Blackwell Kearnery, Richard (editor) 2003 Continental Philosophy in the 20th Century Routledge

Bell, D. and Cooper, N. (editors) 1990 The Analytic Traditioini: Meaning, Thought and Knowledge

Strathern, Paul 2002 The Essential Wittgenstein Virgin Books Paperback

Anthony Kenny 2012 A New History of Western Philosophy OUP Oxford

Peter Adamson 2014- 2019 A History of Philosophy without Gaps Vol 1 Classical Philosophy; Vol 2 Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds, Vol 3 Philosophy in the Islamic World, Vol 4 Medieval Philosophy OUP Oxford

Anthony Gottlieb 2016 The Dream of Reason. A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance Penguin Books

Anthony Gottlieb 2016 The Dream of Enlightenment. The Rise of Modern Philosophy Penguin Books

Philosophy of the Human Person and Ethics:

Second Vatican Council 1965 Guadium et Spes

Crosby, John F 1993 The Selfhood of the Human Person Catholic University of America Press Washington

Vitz, Paul 1998 Psychology as Religion Erdmans Gomez-Lobo, Alfonso 2001 Morality and the Human Goods Georgetown University Press

MacIntyre, Alasdair 1967 Short History of Ethics Routledge

May, William E 2003 Introduction to Moral Theology Huntingdon

Stewart Goetz and Charles Taliaferro 2011 A Brief History of the Soul Wiley-Blackwell

Epistemology:

Tekippe, Terry 1994 What is Lonergan up to in Insight Liturgical Press Collegeville

Dancy, Jonathan 1985 An Induction to Contemporary Epistemology Blackwell Oxford

Flanagan, Joseph 1996 Towards Self-Knowledge University of Toronto Press Toronto

Metaphysics:

Sullivan, Daniel 1992 An Introduction to Philosophy Tan Books and Publishers Illinois

Connell, Desmond 1996 Essays in Metaphysics Four Courts Press Dublin

Jonathan Tallant 2018 Metaphysics An Introduction Bloomsbury London

William Charlton 2016 Metaphysics and Grammar Bloomsbury London

Logic:

Hacck, Susan 1978 Philosophy of Logics Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Walton, Douglas N 1989 Informal Logic; A handbook for Critical Argumentation Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Geach, P.T 1972 Logic Matters Blackwell Oxford

Philosophy of Science:

Alan Chalmers 1999 What is this thing called Science? 3rd Edition Open University Press Buckingham

Peter Godfrey-Smith 2003 Theory and Reality University of Chicago Press Chicago

Alex Rosenbery 2005 Philosophy of Science: a contemporary introduction 2nd Edition Routledge London

Barnes, Barry and David Bloor 1982 Relativism, rationalism, and the sociology of knowledge Hollis and Lukes

Grene, Marjoris and David Depew 2004 The Philosophy of Biology Cambridge, University Press Cambridge

Hollis, Martin and Steven Lukes, eds. 1982 Rationality and Relativism MIT Cambridge

Issues in Current Philosophy:

2007 ‘Dummett’: Philosophy and Religion in Randall Auxier (ed), The Library of Living Philosophers Michael Dummett, Vol XXXI Open Court Publishing Company Chicago/La Salle Illinois

Kerr, Fergus 2002 After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism Blackwell Oxford

MaCarthy, Michael 1990 The Crisis in Philosophy SUNY New York

Benso, Silvia Spring ‘Of Things Face-to-Face 1996 with Levinas Face-to-Face with Heidegger,’ Philosophy Today, 40, 1.

Moran, Dermot 2000 An Introduction to Phenomenology Routledge

Fillingham, Lydia 1994 Foucault for Beginners Writers and Readers Books 62

Social and Political Philosophy:

2004 Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction Oxford University Press Oxford

White, Michael 2003 Political Philosophy: An Historical Introduction Oneworld Publications London

Maritain, Jacques 1998 Man and the State Catholic University of America Press Washington DC

Philosophy of Culture and Evangelization:

Redemptor Hominis, Redemptoris Mission, Fides er Ratio Pontifical Council for inter-religious dialogue, Dialogue and Proclamation

Gallaher, SJ, Michael Paul 1997 Clashing Symbols: An Introduction to Faith & Culture

Hemming, Laurence Paul and Frank Parsons, Susan 1998 Restoring Faith in Reason: A new Translation of Faith and Reason with Commentary and Discussion SCM 2002

https://www.secondspring.co.uk/2017/09/22/evangelizing-anti-intellectual-culture/

Philosophy of God and Cosmology:

Varghese, Roy (ed) 2000 Theos, Anthropos, Christos: A Compendium of Modern Philosophical Theology Peter Lang New York

Swinburne, Richard 1997 The Coherence of Theism Oxford

Davies, Brian 1985 Thinking about God Chapman London

Polkinghorne, John 2007 Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship Yale University Press Yale

Hodgson, Peter 2005 Theology and Modern Physics Ashgate Publishing Co Aldershot

Wallace William A 2002 The Modelling of Nature: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis. Scholarly Book Services Inc

http://www.iapweb.org/

http://www.morec.com/nature/

Philosophy of History and of the Arts:

Bann, Stephen 1981 ‘Towards a Critical Historiography: Recent Work in Philosophy of History,’ Philosophy 56

Dray, William 1989 On History and Philosophers of History Leiden and New York

Danto, Arthur C 1965 The Analytical Philosophy of History Cambridge Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction

Hans Urs von Balthasar The Glory of the Lord, Vols, 1 & 4N.

P. Lanarque & S. Olsen Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition

Matthew Muller Logos Fall 2017 Vol 20:4 pp54-65 The False Idol of Beauty. Bl John Henry Newman’s Critique of Aesthetics and the Challenge of Evangelisation

Dante, The Divine Comedy

The Thoughts of St. Thomas Aquinas:

Davies, Brian (editor) 2002 Thomas Aquinas: Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives Oxford University Press Inc, USA

Torrell, Jean-Pierre 2005 Aquinas’s ‘Summa’: Background, Structure and Reception CUP Press Washington, D.C.

Kerr, Fergus 2003 After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism Blackwell Oxford

Denys Turner 2013 Thomas Aquinas. A Portrait Yale University Press Yale

Philosophy of Religion:

Haldane, John 2005 An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Religion Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd

Cottingham, John 2005 The Spiritual Dimension: Religion, Philosophy and Human Value Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Plantinga, Alvin 2000 Warranted Christian Belief Oxford University Press Oxford

Cottingham, John 2014 Philosophy of Religion. Towards a More Humane Approach Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Philosophy and Contemporary Catholic Theology:

2003 Reinterpreting Rahner: A Critical Study of His Major Themes Fordham University Press

Dulles, Avery Models of Revelation Orbis Marynoll, NY

Meynell, Hugo 1986 Introduction to the Theology of Bernard Lonergan Scholars Press Atlanta

Reading Texts: Augustine’s Confessions:

Augustine (trans. R.S. PineCoffin) 1961 Confessions Penguin Books London

Brown, Peter 2000 Augustine of Hippo: A Biography UCP Berkeley, Los Angeles

Burton, Phillip 2007 Language in the Confessions of Augustine Oxford University Press Oxford

Cameron, Michael 2012 God Meets Me Everywhere: Augustine’s Early Figurative Exegesis Oxford University Press Oxford

Caputo, John, D. and Scanlon, Michael, J. (eds.) 2005 Augustine and Postmodernism: Confessions and Circumfession Indiana University Press Bloomington and Indianapolis

Carey, Phillip 2000 Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self: The Legacy of a Christian Platonist Oxford University Press Oxford

Chadwick, Henry 2009 Augustine of Hippo: A Life Oxford University Press Oxford

Dobell, Brian 2009 Augustine’s Intellectual Conversion: The Journey from Platonism to Christianity Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Dodaro, Robert 1999 ‘Loose Cannons: Augustine and Derrida on their Selves’ in Caputo, John, D., and Scanlon, Michael, J., (eds.) God, the Gift, and Postmodernism

Foley, Michael 2013 ‘Augustine (354-430 - The Confessions’ in (eds.) Robert Campbell Roberts; Scott H Moore; Donald D Schmeltekopf Finding a Common Thread: Understanding Great Texts from Homer to O’Connor St. Augustine’s Press South Bend, Indiana

Mann, William 2014 Augustine’s Confessions: Philosophy in Autobiography Oxford University Press Oxford

Stock, Brian 1996 Augustine the Reader: Meditation, SelfKnowledge and the Ethics of Interpretation The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Cambridge Massachusetts

Thomas More and Renaissance Philosophy:

Wegemer, Gerard 2004 Thomas More Source Book Catholic University of America Washington, D.C.

Copehaver, Brian 1992 Renaissance Philosophy Oxford Paperbacks Oxford

Hankins, James (editor) 2007 The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Husserl and Phenomenology:

Hadn, E., (editor) 1997 The Philosophy of Hans Georg Gadamer Open Court Library of Living Philosophers

Sokolowski, Robert 1999 Introduction to Phenomenology Cambridge University Press Cambridge

Russell, Mathewson 2006 Husserl: A Guide for the Perplexed Continuum

The Philosophy of Meister Eckhart:

Eckhart, Meister (trans. McGinn, Bernard) 1981 The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises and Defense Paulist Books New York, NY (242 ECK)

Eckhart, Meister (trans. McGinn, Bernard) 1986 Meister Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher Paulist Books New York, NY

Eckhart, Meister (trans. Maurer, Armand) 1974 Parisian Questions and Prologues Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies Toronto

McGinn, Bernard 2001 The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart Crossroad New York, NY

Turner, Denys 2004 Faith, Reason, and the Existence of God Cambridge University Press New York, NY

Wojtulewicz, Christopher M. 2017 Meister Eckhart on the Principle Peeters Leuven

Aquinas and Newman in Modernity:

Newman, John Henry 1906 An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent Longmans London (230.2 NEW)

Crosby, John F. 2014 The Personalism of John Henry Newman Catholic University of America Washington DC (230.2 NEW)

McAleer, Graham J. 2005 Ecstatic Morality and Sexual Politics Fordham University Press New York, NY

Wippel, John F. 2000 The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas Catholic University of America Washington DC (230.2 AQU)

McCool, Gerald A. 1996 The Neo-Thomists Marquette University Press Milwaukee

Przywara, Erich 2014 Analogia Entis Wm. B. Eerdmans Grand Rapids, MI (110 PRZ)

Turner, Denys 2004 Faith, Reason, and the Existence of God Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK (200.1 TUR)

Hudson, Deal W. and Moran, Dennis (eds.) 1992 The Future of Thomism University of Notre Dame Press South Bend, IN

Knasas, John F. X. 2003 Being and Some Twentieth-Century Thomists Fordham University Press New York, NY

Sillem, Edward 1969-70 The Philosophical Notebook of John Henry Newman, vols. 1&2 Nauwelaerts Leuven (230.2 NEW)

Richardson, Lawrence 2004 Newman's Approach to Knowledge Gracewing London

Collins, James 1961 Philosophical Readings in Cardinal Newman Henry Regnery Chicago, IL

Merrigan, Terence 1991 Clear Heads and Holy Hearts: The Religious and Theological Ideal of John Henry Newman NEW)

Aquin, Frederick D. and King, Benjamin J. 2018 The Oxford Handbook of John Henry Newman Oxford University Press Oxford

[mariacallous]

"With the eurozone crisis going back to 2010, the refugee crisis that culminated in 2015, the crisis of the EU-Russia relationship going back to the Ukrainian Maidan revolution of 2013-14, to the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, the EU has struggled to live up to the expectations it raised both in relation to its own people and neighbouring countries. This is not an accident".

Could this really be by design? In European Disunion: Democracy, Sovereignty and the Politics of Emergency (Hurst in the UK, OUP in the US, 2022), Stefan Auer argues that the EU's hybrid form – falling somewhere between a multinational state and a multilateral organisation – comes closest to the ideals of Germany, its most powerful member. This attempt to bypass politics has weakened the EU in the many emergencies it has faced over the last 15 years. Today, he says, "Europeans do not have the luxury of living in a politics-less world".

Stefan Auer is an Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong, having previously taught in Melbourne and Dublin and twice held Jean Monnet chairs. A prolific contributor to political science journals, he won the 2005 UACES Best Book in European Studies prize for his Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe (Routledge, 2004).

*The authors' own book recommendations are: After Europe by Ivan Krastev (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017) and Time of the Magicians: The Great Decade of Philosophy, 1919-1929 by Wolfram Eilenberger (2022).

Tim Gwynn Jones is an economic and political-risk analyst at Medley Advisors (a division of Energy Aspects).

[dvrthncx]

oups i think i just attempted to create a self insert and then gave her a backstory (that i think is one of my best if i do say so myself) so that she has a good excuse to share my personal philosophies re: sith vs jedi and now i’m writing her a fic cause she deserves it this wasn’t supposed to happen

[rcmclachlan]

R.C.’s McShep Fic Recs

Hey, remember when the Stargate: Atlantis fandom put out god-tier content on a nearly constant basis like 10-14 years ago? BECAUSE I SURE DO. 

For the last two weeks, I’ve been revisiting my favorite McKay/Sheppard fics and, to my delight, discovered a couple of new ones (none of which are on this list, but still)! Here are the best of the best, imo. Block yourself some time to read, because most of these are loooong. (** denotes a personal all-time fave) +

Transcendental by astolat **

tran·scen·den·tal (trăn'sĕn-dĕn'tl) adj.

1. Philosophy. Concerned with the a priori or intuitive basis of knowledge as independent of experience. 2. Surpassing all others; superior. 3. Beyond common thought or experience. 4. Mathematics. Of or relating to a real or complex number that is not the root of any polynomial that has positive degree and rational coefficients.

In This Era of Liberty by Chandri **

They lose the Daedelus at the beginning of the fifth year. That's the first night John crawls into bed with him.

Sheppard's Law by Speranza **

"Weird? You don't know what weird is. Weird is being in a— with the— and the crazy alien—" He stopped, incoherent, hands flailing. "And then your best friend is twelve, and you're his piano teacher. That—now, you're talking weird!"

paper cranes (upstairs, downstairs) by verity **

"Oh my God," Rodney says, stricken. "This is—this is one of those British costume dramas Ronon always wants to watch and I'm the uncouth American!"

The Mute Shepherd by auburn

John's never been able to ask for what he wants, but sometimes silence itself is the sin.

How Not to Fly by toomuchplor **

And then the door chimed, and Woolsey came in looking mournful and anxious, and everything got derailed.

Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed by DevilDoll

It took Rodney and Zelenka four days to write the program that turned the Atlantis star drive into a self-destruct mechanism.

Rewind, Reboot, Restore by Rheanna

Liking Rodney McKay was very similar to how Douglas Adams had described flying: the trick was to throw yourself at him and miss.

Indelible by shaenie **

John has a useful gift for compartmentalization: he discards the irrelevant and moves on. Then Rodney makes an ill-considered move on a mission, John steps up to take responsibility for making reparations to the locals, and things take a turn for the complicated as Rodney, an alien society, and an armada of ships make standard operating procedure completely impossible.

Mother Country by Chandri **

None of them were made for this bureaucratic nightmare, but they couldn't just leave the people of Pegasus to twist in the wind. That wasn't why they were here.

The New Atlantean Dictionary of Literary Terms: A Complete Reference in Four Volumes by thingswithwings

Anthropomorphism to Zeugma; the history of a city.

Written by the Victors by Speranza

Caroll, Franklin R. Atlantis Revisited. New York and London, Routledge, 2011. Chapman, Denise. Several Kinds of Genius: The Life of Rodney McKay. NY: Harper Perennial, 2015. Croft, Rosalind. City of Spires: A Memoir. Toronto: The Mercury Press, 2009. Dugan, Paul. A Political History of Atlantis. Oxford: OUP, 2012.

Straight as a Circle by toomuchplor **

John Sheppard wakes up straight.

The Difference Engine by copperbadge

Sheppard remembered dying in Afghanistan, but since he was still walking around he didn't pay that memory too much mind.

Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Down by leah k (blinkiesays)

Rodney lurches in the conference room door twenty minutes late and says, "I have a plan," with this look in his eyes that says, but you're not going to like it, in about ten languages.

Theory of Everything by Rheanna **

"'Maybe all you need is a vacation'," Rodney echoed. "Please, I'm not stupid, you know." Then he looked stricken. "I'm not stupid yet."

The Black Helicopters Series by whizzy

"I know," John agreed, without sympathy. Rodney could hate it all he liked; he couldn't afford to know the truth. I lied. It doesn't matter who walks through that gate with you. No one else owes you what I do. No one else is going to protect you the way I would.

until she shines by verity **

In which Ancients come and go, Rodney reinvents Babelfish, Ronon resumes his career in library science, and Teyla is awesome.

[oupacademic]

5 Facts about Friedrich Schiller

German poet and playwright, Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was a profound philosopher who wrote highly influential works on aesthetics and played a role in the development of German idealism and Romanticism. Schiller insisted upon the importance of arts in human’s life and saw an aesthetic education as the key to the realisation of morality and a free and just society whereby a human can realise his full potential. His achievement in literature also covers an astonishing range of forms

Here are 5 interesting facts about Schiller, you might not know:

1. Born in Marback in Germany, Schiller attended the military academy of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg and emerged as an army doctor in 1780. He however rebelled against his training by writing and reading “Sturm and Drang”. His first play The Robbers (1781), the story about a nobleman turned robber, caused a sensation on its first performance. Forbidden by Karl Eugen to pursue his literary ambitions, Schiller had to flee in 1782 to Manheim in Palatinate and became a resident playwright at the Manheim National Theatre from 1783-1784.

2. He is sometimes referred to as the German Shakespeare for his immense influence on German literature and theater. His other famous works include the trilogy Wallenstein, and four major dramas, Maria Stuart, The Maid of Orleans, The Bride of Messina and Wilhelm Tell.

3. Immanuel Kant was a major influence on Schiller who developed Kant’s ethics and aesthetics towards post-Kantian idealism. On the basis of Kant's Critique of Judgement (1790), Schiller argued that beauty is ‘freedom in phenomenal appearance’. On the Aesthetic Education of Humanity in a Series of Letters(Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen, 1795) is his most influential and best-known work.

4. He became Professor of History at Jena in 17889, and wrote several historical works during his lifetime.

5. He was a close friend with Goethe (1749-1832) and collaborated with him on a literary journal Die Horen (1795-7) to raise the standard of art and literature. Both are considered seminal and notable figures of the Weimar Classicism, a movement in literature and theatre associated with the culture of the Weimarcourt at the turn of the eighteenth century.  

For more on our Philosopher of the Month, follow @OUPPhilosophy and the hashtag #philosopherotm on Twitter.

Image provided by Wikimedia Commons

[frankjs]

#DiogenesTheCynic #Cynacism #Philosophy #AncientPhilosophy #AncientGreek #AncientGreece #Classics #AncientWorld #ClassicalStudies #History #Historian #AncientWisdom #SayingsAndAnecdotes #Oxford #OUP #OxfordWorldClassics #OxfordUniversityPress #Academic #Academics #AcademicReading #Reading #Learning #Nerd #Books #Bookstagram #Amazon #AmazonPrime #Cynic (at Etobicoke) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcYm_Y3P24L/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[gwendolynlerman]

French vocabulary

Des mots françaises utilisés en anglais - French words in English

à la - "to the/in the manner of"

à la carte - restaurant menu items sold separately or individually, usually in smaller portions

à la mode - to serve a desert with ice cream

à propos - "regarding/concerning"

adieu - "goodbye/farewell"

amuse-bouche - a small bite-size appetizer

apéritif - a drink taken before a meal, usually alcoholic

au jus - to serve a dish with sauce

blasé - not to be impressed with something due to over-familiarity

Bon appétit ! - "Enjoy your meal!"

bon vivant - somebody who enjoys their life

Bon voyage ! - "Enjoy your trip!"

bourgeois - a person preoccupied with material values and class rank or status

brunette - a female with brown hair

café - coffee house

café au lait - coffee with milk

chic - stylish, in fashion

cliché - a saying that is used too often

clique - a tight or exclusive group

crèche - Nativity scene for Christmas

crème brûlée - a desert with custard and caramelized sugar

crème de la crème - "best of the best"

critique - an analysis of one's work

cul-de-sac - dead-end street

décor - referred to home decorating

déjà vu - "already seen"; used for situations that seem like they've happened before.

dossier - a file containing information about a person

eau de toilette - aromatic-splashing water used after bathing/mild perfume

eau de vie - whiskey, brandy, or other strong alcoholic beverages

En garde ! - "Take your guard!"; said in fencing

entre nous - "between us"

entrée - the main dish of a meal

façade - a fake person or a false impression

faux - fake

faux pas - something one must not do in order to remain polite

femme fatale - seductrice harboring bad intentions.

fiancé(e) - a man/woman who will be married

gaffe - a stupid mistake or blunder

genre - type or kind

haute cuisine - high-end or gourmet cooking

hors d'œuvre - an appetizer

joie de vivre - joy of living

laissez-faire - political philosophy referring to non-interference

malaise - sickness or not feeling comfortable

Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday, annual festival celebrated in New Orleans

milieu - social environment

né(e) - "born"; used in writing when referring to a woman's maiden name

nouveau riche - people who have recently become wealthy

panache - flamboyance

par avion - air mail

prêt-à-porter - ready to wear

raison d'être - eeason or purpose for existing

rapprochement - diplomatic term for two states or bodies moving towards each other

renaissance - "rebirth", 14-17th-century Europe

savant - knowing or brilliant, often used in relation to those with autism

soirée - evening party

soupe du jour - oup of the day

tête-à-tête - "head-to-head", two people facing each other in close debate

vinaigrette - oil and vinegar salad dressing

vis-à-vis - to compare one thing in relation to another

This is not a comprehensive list, but it includes the most commonly used terms. Some of them are also used in other languages.

[fabrice-1-ayissi]

Découvrez dans les boutiques de vente Amazon, le livre intitulé : << l'être humain et le mensonge du système mondial >> de Fabrice AYISSI. Ce livre est un écrit oups mettant à découvert les parodies du système qui réduisent l'être humain à tout égard. Il ne vous laissera donc pas indifférent car, renfermant à son sein : le développement personnel, l'histoire, la santé, la spiritualité, la philosophie des modernes, la démocratie illusoire, l'empathie, les manipulations confondues et le racisme. Bonne lecture. https://www.instagram.com/p/B8yHKfhhuSe/?igshid=10fw5amkydotg

[ubiqbooks]

29.3.17

This morning someone bought German Philosophy : A Very Short Introduction  by Andrew Bowie, making it the #firstbookoftheday

“German Philosophy : A Very Short Introduction discusses the idea that German philosophy forms one of the most revealing responses to the problems of ‘modernity.”

Follow the link to grab a copy: http://bit.ly/2o8BRMk

[romainjobert]

20 jours, soit un peu plus de deux semaines, c'est le temps que m'aura laissé l'Aventure pour prendre de l'avance. Comme un guépard défiant une gazelle au sprint et lui laissant, sûr de sa supériorité, 150 mètres avant de s'élancer. J'ai d'abord repris mes marques : les nuits en tentes, la logistique bouffe, la gestion de l'eau etc.. Et j'ai cru me faire rattraper en attaquant la Vallée de la mort. Quand je dit "en attaquant" c'est à dire que j'étais sur le pas de la porte du parc, sur le seuil du désert "officiel". Je met du guillemet parce qu'à ce moment là j'en avais déjà croqué un morceau de désert, ou plutôt c'est lui qui m'avait laissé des marques de crocs à base de coups de soleil. Mais je lui en veut pas parce qu'en échange des journées à 40° je lui donnait mes réserves faites durant l'hiver. Raclette/fondue à la revoyure ! Et un pas de plus dans la course aux grammes, normalement on vise l'équipement en premier mais j'aurais le temps d'y revenir (ou pas). Je disais donc, le premier moment ou je me suis dit que j'allais y avoir droit c'est quand j'ai croisé ce mec avec son caddie et une aussi grande portion de route infinie devant que derrière lui et qui me demande de l'eau. Ça va j'avais de la marge je lui enfile un fond de bouteille. Je me demande quand même qui c'est le fou dans l'histoire, si c'est lui ou moi. Bon la réponse n’a pas tardé, clairement c'était lui. Quand après m'avoir parlé de son chapeau, de sa mère et de sa ceinture je lui ai dit que j'allais y aller et qu'il m'a répondu, en ayant un geste de la main vers son caddie, que lui et Steve allait continuer aussi. Je me suis dit que oui le soleil tapait fort et qu'il fallait pas trop trainer. J'ai pas fait les présentations entre mon vélo et Steve et je suis parti... après une bénédiction vaudoue en espagnol. Enfin j'espère que c'était une bénédiction parce que j'ai quand même été sympa de m'arrêter. Et là on arrivait sur la fin de la journée mais je peux vous dire que fatigue ou pas j'ai encore envoyé du kilomètre pour faire de la distance. Je me suis demandé avant de m'endormir si il m'aurait violé et tué ou bien l'inverse ? Mais en tout cas les pépins c'était pas pour ce jour là, ni le lendemain même si j'avais l'haleine chaude du félin qui se rapprochait dangereusement des talons. Petit col qui fait le passage sur la Vallée...fin de matinée je suis au départ de la montée avec une demi bouteille de flotte (oups) et va falloir passer ça avant midi, avant les 40°... ça faisait une semaine que je faisais du vélo et y a encore 2 semaines je passais des nuits en refuges pour faire du ski de rando donc je me suis prit une petite claque quand même et je pensais qu'à sortir de la Vallée avant d'y être vraiment entré (du coup le lendemain je remontait de l'autre coté pour m'échapper, mission éclair) ça c'est donc fait dans la douleur et la crainte de l'insolation (je pense avoir tellement cramé mon capital de résistance au soleil je dois même avoir des agios) mais non au final ça ce fait. À partir de là ça fait une semaine et même si je sent que la distance entre elle et moi s'amenuise je tiens bon. (Vous sentez le suspens, la pression qui monte ?) Je passe rapidement la journée vent de face : 5 km/h pendant deux heures et il m'en fallait 150 pour la prochaine ville, là j'ai réétudié la carte et changé d'itinéraire parce qu'à ce rythme je tomberai à cours de bouffe avant de voir le bout de la route, et 150 km de ligne droite ça déprime. Je passe aussi sur mon idée de génie de "ha mais si je passe par là j'évite la route principale et le trafic" pour se retrouver sur une route en travaux avec un premier panneau "interdit de faire du stop", un deuxième "vélos et piétons interdits" et enfin "toutes les amendes sont doublés en zone de travaux". Voilà voilà, on va refaire les 90 bornes où on était content d'avoir le vent dans le dos, mais dans l'autre sens. Tête dans le guidon en mode bélier, à entrer dans le vent, dans le vide, à coup de tête. Pas le choix. Passage à Las Vegas, pas un pied dans la ville. Tout contourner parce que rien à foutre. Première sueur froide et envie de dégueuler... non c'est bon. Je me dégotte un arrêt warmshower à Mesquite pour deux jours plus tard. Temps de faire une pause. Sur d'avoir une douche je coupe dans la pampa. Un raccourci pour ne pas longer une nationale. Niveau évasion excellent choix, pas vu un chat. Niveau vélo, pas vu la route. J'exagère y’avait bien une ligne dans le sable laissée par les 4×4. Il a juste fallu pousser le vélo qui s'enlisait dans les bancs de sable, c'est ça de traverser des lits de rivières asséchés. Pas fâché d'arriver dans le confort pour un soir mais comme d'hab pas bien dormi, une fois lancé seule la tente est ma maison et le cosmos mon campement (pour ceux qu'on pas lu "La horde du contrevent" il n’est jamais trop tard pour commencer maintenant). Là je pourrais faire la pleureuse par facilité, geindre sur la loi de Murphy et maudir la fatalité comme si je croyais que l'univers me devait quelque chose car 2h après mon départ il se met à pleuvoir pour le reste de la journée et de la nuit à venir. Mais comme en philosophie c'est seulement quand ça devient difficile que ça nous en dit plus sur nous même. Le reste c'est de l'entrainement. Schopenhauer nous dirait que le monde est ce qu'on en fait, la pluie n'est ni bonne ni mauvaise. Elle est. Le paysan et le cycliste auront des avis bien différent sur la question. Le fait est qu'il pleut et que j'aurais beau y penser, la maudire ou la bénir, il pleuvra. Alors autant s'inspirer des philosophes antique et se préoccuper des choses sur lesquelles j'aurais un effet (chercher un abri ou continuer). Décidément l'invention de la liseuse numérique équivaut à la mise à disposition d'un arsenal de pokéball dans laquelle on irait puiser avec tactique suivant la nature des épreuves à affronter. Pour le moment ça sera le dernier bouquin d'Onfray (Sagesse) en m'espérant Romain plus que par le nom. Une seul journée de pluie à vélo n'étant pas une journée de tempête en haute mer sur un radeau, coupon cet épilogue. S'en suivent quelques journées sans événements avec la possibilité de bien avancer sur la carte et nous voilà rendu aux deux semaines de voyage. Moment ou l'Aventure qui jusque là me talonnait seulement, me rattrape franchement. Plus que ça même, elle s'est retroussé les manches et est venu toquer chez moi à coup de merlin. Insolation. J'allais pas y échapper éternellement. Et me voilà donc dans le sud de l'Utah, pays des pierres rouges, à bien 100 bornes de la première ville, couché sous un arbre (y en avait pas des masses) à sentir poindre une douleur à l'estomac. S'en suivra une nuit poétique, à ramper hors de la tente sous une pleine lune éclatante et me joignant aux hurlements des coyotes au loin je vomirai mes tripes bruyamment. Le ventre vide mais gonflé et douloureux je passerai la journée qui suit alité, ou en tout cas allongé faute de lit, avec la force d'un nourrisson prématuré. Régurgitant de temps en temps les deux trois gorgées d'eau que j'aurais pu faire passer et attendant, attendant le milieu de l'après midi à suivre la course du soleil sous mon arbre, que cela passe. Une nuit de sommeil et me voilà reparti, un peu faiblard mais de toute façon j'ai plus ni flotte ni bouffe donc faut bouger. Tout va bien, j'arrive à la prochaine ville, refait le plein et continue pour camper un peu plus loin. Hors de danger, retour à la norma...bah !! Qu'est ce qui ce passe, j'ai une branche du pédalier qui se lance dans une aventure en solo. C'est une vie conjugale qui se termine sans crier gare, sans crier rien du tout d'ailleurs. Que faire? Et bien demi tour, je ne suis qu'à 10 km de la dernière ville. Je prends les deux branches nouvellement divorcées et les attache sur le sac à dos. J'aurais pensé qu'au pays du pick-up pachydermique il y en aurait bien un pour se dire "Tiens ! Pourquoi est ce qu'il pousse son vélo ? Je vais m'arrêter pour lui demander, peut être qu'il a besoin d'un coup de main." Mais la tendance semble être "Ha il à l'air de beaucoup s'amuser à pousser son vélo. Surement qu'il veut prendre son temps pour admirer tout ce rien qui nous entoure". Qu'à cela ne tienne, de toute façon le seul magasin de vélo de la ville était déjà fermé. À ce moment là on est samedi après midi, il réouvrira lundi. Soit. S'en suit une errance dans la ville de Page en Arizona. Et deux nuit de camping citadin. À 4h du mat un flic en patrouille viendra bien me demander ce que je fait là, à dormir à la belle dans un parc. Je m'explique, pas de souci, le mec est sympa et me laisse tranquille. Je passe mon dimanche dans ce parc (avec prise électrique à dispo) à rédiger ce texte entre deux lectures. Aujourd'hui, lundi, j'ai pu aller au shop. Le choix ? Attendre une semaine pour avoir la pièce ou changer avec une pièce approchante aujourd'hui mais ça veut dire changer les plateaux et passer de mes 3 plateaux neuf que je viens de changer à 2. Je choisi de changer aujourd'hui et ça veut dire que je vais me trimballer mes 3 plateaux dans le backpack, putain ! Je finirais par les donner à un warmshower en chemin mais je vais pas les balancer c'est mort. Question de principe. Évidemment tout ça coute des ronds mais j'entends la voix d'une pote qui me dit "plaie d'argent n'est pas mortelle". C'est sur, et je m'en sort bien au final. J'aurais pu me retrouver au milieux de nul part sans voiture qui passe, la police aurait pu me casser les couilles et il y aurait pu ne avoir de bike shop dans cette ville et il y aurait pu ne pas avoir la possibilité de faire autrement que de commander (et perdre une semaine). Alors voilà. À partir d'aujourd'hui c'est l'aventure. Plus question qu'elle se contente de suivre au loin. On sera un de plus sur le vélo, faut l'accepter. Elle prend pas de place, elle cause pas mais elle rajoute juste son grain de sel de temps en temps et heureusement parce que sinon est ce que la vie ne serait pas un peu fade ?