so many of these articles remind me of Freud's concept of the oceanic, whereby an organism aspires to regress to a more rudimentary state and will do just about anything to avoid developing the capacity to discern the external world—the mythic bliss of eternal smooth-brainedness

me to Brett

debating whether The Addams Family involves a Gettier case

The Seventh Seal (1957)

ready to play chess

this is probably my most halloween-y composition, a toccata for organ over tonic and dominant pedal points. you see, the longer the note, the more dread. musescore.com/user/6707006...

the game of thrones theme music really annoys me because the harmony just moves between tonic minor and tonic major with no modulation *sad and brooding* "der-da-da-da, der-da-da-da, der-da-da-da, der-da-da-da" *suddenly happy* "der-da-da-da, der-da-da-da, der-da-da-da, der-da-da-da" so lazy

it certainly episte me off

describing Jerry Fodor's philosophy to his face

I'll be giving a Royal Institute of Philosophy Public Lecture at Lancaster next month. "Polymath from Lancaster: The Life and Philosophy of William Whewell" Wednesday 19th November 2025, 7pm–8pm Storey Lecture Theatre, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1TH

an excellent critical review by @nateo.bsky.social

it's basically my job to have these

I was struck by this resemblance between Twin 2 and me. that stare won't work on me, pet. I *invented* that stare.

the relief you feel when you realise the loud noise in the middle of the night is just an evil demon and not your child waking up

— György Ligeti

the obvious explanation for this obsession with making young people "hear things that upset them" is some sort of weird psychosexual boomer castration complex

Mike Flowers Pops — Wonderwall youtu.be/NTfZshkNZRw?...

talking with some buddies on discord about "nintendo songs to fuck to" and this has to be up there youtu.be/oQHkBC24Ing?...

describe your bluesky account in a single image

hard to pick a favourite but I've always loved the cold sense of dread and urgency this evokes youtu.be/cXMl-IMHgxQ?...

the platonic ideal of a bluesky reply

in tomorrow's philosophy of psychiatry reading group, we'll be pulling apart the university guidance on coping with change. as you may know, mass redundancies are planned at Lancaster University. hence, management have published guidance on coping with change based on the Kübler-Ross model ... (1/2)

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer. This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Twin 1 has decided that she now wants to call me "dude" instead of "dad"

the first thing that usually goes when I'm nervous or stressed is my ability to put english sentences together verbally, which kind of sucks as a philosopher working in the anglophone tradition do any other second-language english speakers get this?

the twins are making up their own Mr Men characters and Twin 2 came out with "Mr Killer" whose attribute is "he kills people"

Nicolas de Grigny (1672–1703):

I have a sort of synaesthesia thing for singing voices and food. I can't entirely explain it, but Tunde Baiyewu's voice from The Lighthouse Family tastes deep-fried.

this is the funniest thing I've seen this week

I have a theory that "all that she wants" by Ace of Base is Tory propaganda about a single mum who wants another baby so that she can get more child benefit

Have a steak.... talk about philosophy....

legitimate clown show stuff

I've always said Timothy Williamson was a wrong'un but people kept making excuses for him. fucking hell

PAW* patrol * postdoc appreciation week

a philosophical issue about which I've changed my mind is the debate between Whewell and Mill on induction. I used to agree with Mill. two decades later, I'm coming to agree more with Whewell.

me and my eldest kid in the drum n bass tent

US mainstream media since Charlie Kirk died

a highlight of my philosophical career was appearing below masturbation in an index

blink-182 philpapers.org/rec/MAUWMA

next term in Lancaster I'll be teaching an introductory course and giving a public lecture on the philosophy of William Whewell. Whewell was born in Lancaster, and so I'll be including a few bits of local history.

a bit of a niche one

something I love about my clinical ethicist gig is getting to draw on diverse resources from philosophy to help solve everyday problems in clinical practice and service delivery. today I got to draw on testimonial injustice, transformative experience, and Frankfurt's 1st-order and 2nd-order desires.

and they say Freud has been discredited

evolutionary psychologists studying the environment of evolutionary adaptedness

watching a documentary about toxic masculinity. was looking reasonable until they rolled out the evolutionary psychologist

@zackpolanski.bsky.social congratulations!!

today our twins begin primary school and our eldest kid begins secondary school. feeling a bit emotional tbh

Twin 1: *looking sad* "I don't want summer to be finished" Twin 2: "IT'S AUTUMN!! AUTUMN!! YAAAAAA HALLOWEEN!!"