Yes to this. By the way, if you want to wow your “Continental” friends with your understanding of Heidegger, Arendt, Agamben, and Deleuze, King-ho Leung’s book is the ultimate cheat sheet. It gets across the “deep” points while being perfectly readerly throughout: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Early modern philosophy is superior to contemporary philosophy in nearly every way, but one way that I think it _isn’t_ is the bizarre practice of treating Roman poets as philosophical authorities. Why dethrone Plato and Aristotle only to crown Virgil and Ovid?

The Antipope has entered the chat

The difference between Descartes and other philosophers is striking. When his _Rules_ got too long and complicated, he abandoned the project to search for a simpler method. Most philosophers would instead have responded by adding two more volumes.

Definitely not by trying to do so (Zhuangzi).

Academics are wondering whether AI can replace peer review, but you don’t need fancy technology to generate a message saying: “2000 words should be cut. Three sections should be added to discuss issues not mentioned in the current draft. No existing content should be removed.”

I had a very nice conversation with Mela Miekus in Network Cultures networkcultures.org/blog/2026/02...

Happy year of the horse! youtu.be/F5qCNpVO-kM?...

Since Jon Stewart got everyone excited about the justification of profit under capitalism, I’m posting my essay on why the risk-free return on wealth or rate of “normal” profit should be zero. philpapers.org/archive/DOUA... Soon it will be published, and I’ll have to take it down.

Back to teaching at St Andrews. This semester I am teaching Philosophy of Law and new module Timely Topics in Political Philosophy,where topics include Inequality & Extreme Wealth, Poverty & Homelessness, Free Speech & Hate Speech, AI and Job Displacement, Migration, and War #PhilSky

My new article, "Antitelic Essences in Spinoza's 'Mystical Atheism'" is available open access at Topoi: rdcu.be/eZ5nA

A tradução portuguesa do meu livro já está disponível! www.guerraepaz.pt/produto/cont...

An interview with me in Filosofie Magazine: www.filosofie.nl/filosoof-ale...

The London Spinoza Circle has been reborn as the UK Spinoza Circle, thanks to the hard work of @asalgadoborge.bsky.social. Please see the website here to sign up and for info on the first event, happening this Friday! www.spinozacircle.co.uk

The London Spinoza Circle has been reborn as the UK Spinoza Circle, thanks to the hard work of Tony Salgado Borge. Please see the website here to sign up and for info on the first event, happening this Friday! www.spinozacircle.co.uk

I’ll be speaking at Spui25 in Amsterdam next month! spui25.nl/programma/al...

somebody is doing a public service here github.com/zoicware/Rem...

I decided to finally cave and follow my university’s directive to teach students how to use AI ethically. But when I tried it, I found out that AI doesn’t even let you use it ethically:

What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? #philsky #booksky @axdouglas.bsky.social

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎄 ∀x God bless x

If nothing else, could we at least call a system that trawls through and emulates everything we post online "Artificial Unintelligence"? Surely unintelligence is what it is studying and simulating.

Erasing the actual ironworkers is also very symbolic of how people think about this technology, which will allegedly "take all the jobs", even though it can't weld girders or indeed build anything.

I appeared on Osi Atikpoh's podcast, A Song Called Life, to discuss my book: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... open.spotify.com/episode/6Kuu...

Literally anything else more effective than AI for learning www.cambridge.org/news-and-ins...

Here is the short and pretty version of a paper I published at the beginning of the year in which I argue that sleeping is valuable aesthetically, interpersonally and intrinsically. Happy to say that a short book on this topic is forthcoming with Princeton U press. #philsky #philosophy #sleeping

St Andrews Philosopher Alex Douglas @axdouglas.bsky.social was featured in this discussion on René Girard on BBC Radio 4. You can listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

I had the honour of speaking with the wonderful Cynthia Haven and Michael Kirwan SJ about the work of René Girard on the BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

"I find that [in] the mainstream philosophy... everything is regulated, controlled, and monitored until the life is squeezed out of it. We’ve lost the ability to cope with anything inhomogeneous or unexpected." | By @axdouglas.bsky.social www.contralytic.co.uk/conversation... #PhilosophySky #philsky

as awful as this is, these examples kinda make me feel giddy and validated, given how i normally feel about our current peer review practices. my personal experience unfortunately has never been consistent with academics' general regard of peer review as a net benefit despite its flaws.

To thank me for my module on Zhuangzi, my students presented me with various useless objects: a pen that leaks, a watch that has stopped, a jar too small to contain anything, a useless tree (from chapters 1 and 4). I am moved beyond words, which is appropriate.

I love coming across unusual architectural features, like this apparently circular room linking between two late Victorian buildings at the junction of Clarkston and Merrylee Roads in the Cathcart area of Glasgow. Cont./ #glasgow #architecture #architecturephotography #cathcart

Beautiful, driech Amsterdam!

I’m really looking forward to doing two events at this festival: one on my book, Against Identity one on a panel with @philipgoff.bsky.social and Fleur Jongepier to discuss the “charms and dangers” of AI www.g10vandeeconomie.nl#D1

I posted this _before_ the big fight started on Substack

Exciting new book!!!!!!! www.routledge.com/Cartesianism...

I have contributed to the debate!! Academic Philosophers and “Writing Clearly” open.substack.com/pub/axdougla...

Exciting new book!!!!!!! www.routledge.com/Cartesianism...

I'm speaking at the G10 festival in Amsterdam 21-23 November. You can join online. Zizek will also be speaking. Should be interesting! (link in first comment) www.g10vandeeconomie.nl

I’m really looking forward to doing two events at this festival: one on my book, Against Identity one on a panel with @philipgoff.bsky.social and Fleur Jongepier to discuss the “charms and dangers” of AI www.g10vandeeconomie.nl#D1

My AI doomer scenario is that it bores us to death. Or we bore ourselves to death talking about it.

Whenever I think of the "Analytic-Continental" divide in philosophy, I remember this Economist headline from decades ago.

By the way if you are a new student or staff member at UCL you have FREE access to all Institute of Making facilities. That includes our experimental kitchen, metals, textiles, ceramics, electronics, workshops ect.. We teach you how to use them all. "What? No". YES! share.google/Hy3wMLdAQtOz...

I wonder if Dutch philosophy departments in the 1630s were only hiring in the philosophy of tulips.

Silicon Valley venture capitalists are a picture of sober restraint compared to the research funding councils on this thing.

“How silly are these investors in the AI bubble! Financial euphoria! Tulips! South Sea! Charles Kindelberger! John Kenneth Galbraith!” — proclaims a chorus of intellectuals who, until a week ago, were hyping this gimmick to the stratosphere. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...