Diotima's Ladder

philosophy and fiction discussed

Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Me
  • What does “Diotima’s Ladder” mean?
Search

Books

Machines Like Me: How did it REALLY End?

December 31, 2019October 8, 2020 / rung2diotimasladder / 19 Comments

Ian McEwan’s first “sci-fi” novel, Machines Like Me, published earlier this year, has not been getting the best reviews, but I found it enjoyable to read. I can’t say it was my favorite of his, but he set the bar pretty high with Atonement and On Chesil Beach. As one member of my book club put it, … Continue reading Machines Like Me: How did it REALLY End?

Language Evolution and Gingerbread

December 22, 2018April 2, 2020 / rung2diotimasladder / 28 Comments

The Great Courses now has streaming, so we've been binge watching lectures as we "learn" Spanish. For me the most entertaining lecture series so far has been the Story of Human Language by John McWhorter. I also like the other course, Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage, although the first is clearer. But here's … Continue reading Language Evolution and Gingerbread

The Challenges in Writing a Philosophical Novel

March 11, 2017April 2, 2020 / rung2diotimasladder / 40 Comments

A while back I did some Googling to find out whether someone out there had written a book similar to mine, and in my research I came across Charles Johnson's novel, Faith and The Good Thing. Too good to be true. He too makes use of the most powerful centerpieces in Plato's works: The Allegory of the … Continue reading The Challenges in Writing a Philosophical Novel

Submission

February 1, 2016February 1, 2016 / rung2diotimasladder / 13 Comments

This post is a little break from phenomenology and AI, but one I've been meaning to write for some time now. I read this novel, Submission, by Michel Houellebecq, without knowing much about the author or the controversy surrounding it...I did this on purpose. I wanted to read it on its own merits, then do … Continue reading Submission

Introduction to “Notes from a Sci-Fi Newbie”

January 5, 2015April 2, 2020 / rung2diotimasladder / 12 Comments

My introductory post for a Sci-Fi (and Fantasy) series is now up at The Leather Library. Whenever a post goes up there, I'll post here as well to let you know. I originally thought it would be like this: But it's not. Not yet, at least. So far Dune and Solaris are on the queue. Right … Continue reading Introduction to “Notes from a Sci-Fi Newbie”

Posts navigation

← Older posts

Categories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Diotima's Ladder on WordPress.com

Translate

Tags

AI artificial intelligence Being and Time Benedict Cumberbatch Christmas Codebreaker desire dogs doing nothing eidos empiricism Enigma Machine Epicurus existentialism experience fiction flamenco freedom gifts Halloween Halloween Costume heidegger husserl ideas Kant last minute Halloween costume Luke Slattery Movie music noumena omniscient phenomenology Philosopher King philosophical novel Philosophy philosophy of science Plato Plato at the Googleplex point of view Rebecca Goldstein Reclaiming Epicurus Religion Science Sherlock Socrates Tucson voice william james Writing writing process
Create a website or blog at WordPress.com
Cancel

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×