A couple of weeks ago, on an evening of drinking and philosophizing, a friend asked me this question and I did not have any answer then. Chris Anderson’s video about giving TED talks kept popping into my mind; I remembered it mostly for the pretty visuals it had representing what an idea is. B . . . Read more

Disclaimer: I’m using the term Philosophy in an ill-defined manner. For me, it means something like an analytical tool or a way of thinking, and not a subject studied in universities. I grew up with a deep distaste for Philosophy, thanks to having seen the perils of eastern philosophies first . . . Read more

With every Camus book there are two major problems: The writing is purposefully contrived, possibly lost in translation from French. The meaning is purposefully contrived, possibly lost in translation from French. In spite of this, I just cannot get enough of his books. He is the most enlightened pe . . . Read more

“What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?” Crime and Punishment is Dostoevsky’s criticism of naive rationalism, utilitarianism, and armchair philosophizing. For such a boring topic, this is a surprisingly fun read. Adhering to his own cri . . . Read more

Here's something I have been thinking about a lot lately, thanks mostly to my being on the internet almost constantly. We live in a world where we can just google the answer to many of the questions that arise in day-to-day life. This is great in that it is harder to lie about things and this increa . . . Read more

“Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” The central question, says Camus, is that of suicide. If you are going to die one da . . . Read more