Engineer, Philosopher, Writer, and host of @RealAtheology. Ardent realist about everything except Theism and The Self. In my view, God and "I" are the problem.
Norfolk VA
Joined May 2021
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Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Read these books together.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Melville's reading:
"Of Melville's more general reading, Shakespeare perhaps had the most impact. But in Moby Dick the influence of Carlyle was almost as apparent; and De Quincey, Sir Thomas Browne, Goethe, Montaigne, Emerson, & Hawthorne helped importantly to shape ideas and phrasing....Far outranking all other books in its all-pervading influence was the King James version of the Bible, which Melville read and reread, annotated and marked in more than one edition.
Like Shakespeare, whatever Melville read he piratically made his own, extending, deepening, and embellishing his thefts so that no literary judge can but approve and applaud."
Luther S. Mansfield & Howard P. Vincent - Explanatory Notes in The Hendricks House edition of Moby Dick
Samuel Johnson was right:
"The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Are there any objections to Rawls' theory of justice that are as vivid and clean as, say, the many objections to utilitarianism?
#rawls #justice
1000wordphilosophy.com/2018/β¦
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
The opening paragraph of Kantβs βWhat is Enlightenment?β goes so unbelievably hard.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
I appeared on Unbelievable with JD Bauman. youtube.com/watch?v=rK1SRx57β¦
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Let's go!π₯
Plato scholar answers questions on the Republic!
Dr. Priou (@alexpriou) is a gentleman and a scholar and did an EXCELLENT job handling all of our questions on Book One of the Republic.
THANK YOU to everyone who attended and submitted questions.
Recording:
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Pope Leo XIV met with American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in a private audience on Wednesday, November 4.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
NEW PODCAST!ποΈπ
Our slow, beautiful pilgrimage through Plato's Republic continues with Dr. Jennifer Frey (@jennfrey) discussing the opening of Book 2 of the Republic: the Ring of Gyges.
Dr. Frey is excellent and does a wonderful job guiding us through this section (357a-362c).
READING SCHEDULE FOR BOOK TWOπ
Our Ascend Book Club has everything you need to read Book Two of the Republic well:
November 10, 2026 β Gygesβ Ring Roundtable β Dr. Paul Jordan Diduch and friends
November 17, 2026 β Republic Bk 2: Adeimantus & Socratesβ Reaction (362d-369b) β Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos (@pleonidasp), Wyoming Catholic College (@WYOCathCollege).
November 24, 2026 β Republic Bk 2: The Healthy & Feverish Cities (369b-374e) β Dr. Zena Hitz (@zenahitz), St. Johnβs College
December 1, 2026 β Republic Bk 2: The Guardians (374e-383c) β Fr. Dcn. Kyle Washut (@KyleWashut), Wyoming Catholic College
Then a new LIVE session Q&A on Book Two!
Our Ascend Book Club is an amazing resource.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Been working on a paragraph all day. Reminded, yet again, of James Joyce telling his friend that heβd spent eight hours working on a single sentence. The sentence:
βThe heaventree of stars hung with humid, nightblue fruit.β
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
I hate philosophy Halloween, what do you mean youβre going as Johann Christian von Mannlichβs portrait of Jacobi, often mistaken for Immanuel Kant?
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Wittgenstein deciding how to write the Tractatus:
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
In 1986, Gene Roddenberry said Patrick Stewart's name should "never, ever be mentioned in my presence again."
Five years later, Stewart sang and danced on the bridge of the Enterprise as a birthday surprise for him.
It was never meant to be seen. A copy survived and ended up as a DVD bonus.
RIP Sir Patrick.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Star Trek TNG had a profound impact on me growing up, and Patrick Stewartβs role above all: the secular, rationalist, egalitarian, post-scarcity (whisper it: socialist) vision of the future, a completion of the Radical Enlightenment project married to a sort of Aristotelian sense of virtue, duty, and deep purpose, a Shakespearean, theatrical-literary, humanist forgiveness and celebration of our foibles and fallenness, and Age of Discovery romantic call to adventure and exploration. I remain a believer that this world can yet be built.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Jean-Luc Picard remains the single most compelling vision of progressive politics I am familiar with β secular, rational, compassionate, egalitarian; a believer in progress & abundance but also duty, hard work, and a constant battle for self-improvement and improving the world.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
In honour of Sir Patrick Stewartβs passing, here are my top ten episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation:
1. The Inner Light (S5 Ep. 25)
2. Tapestry (S6 Ep. 15)
3. The Measure of a Man (S1 Ep. 9)
4. Darmok (S5 Ep. 2)
5. The Drumhead (S4 Ep. 21)
6. The Pegasus (S7 Ep. 12)
7. I, Borg (S5 Ep. 23)
8. Who Watches the Watchers (S3 Ep. 4)
9. Ensign Ro (S5 Ep. 3)
10. Cause and Effect (S5 Ep. 18)
All are philosophically very interesting and most are carried by Stewartβs performance. I highly recommend them.
Benjamin Blake Speed Watkins πΊπΈπΊπ¦π³οΈβππ³οΈββ§οΈ retweeted
Join us! We are currently reading Plato's Republic but have read many other dialogues as well.
We often have recourse to the Complete Works.
theascent.io/p/how-to-read-pβ¦
