Author Archives

I’ve completed all but defence of my thesis for a masters in philosophy. My disciplinary interest has been in the acquisition and maintenance of our beliefs. But I also have a background in the study of rhetoric, linguistics, and philosophy of language. I’m taking a hiatus from the student life, but am intellectually active. For example, I’m a research assistant for my husband, Paul, a social and political philosopher. Paul and I regularly discuss and vet each other’s work. So, while I don’t have a PhD, neither am I simply pulling things out of my derriere.

Paul and I delight in our four pets: Barsi, a Border Collie-Pyrenees cross, Howard, a German Shepherd-Bernese-Pyrenees cross puppy, and two cats, Mr. Tinky and Rorschach. Between us we have three wonderful sons and their three respective equally wonderful partners, and we delight in all. We live in Lethbridge, Alberta and, until covid, we travelled overseas throughout our summers.

• Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Footnotes to Plato.

  By pammentations on April 10, 2021 • ( 2 )

  The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. –A.N. Whitehead– Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, Gifford Lectures 1927-28, New York: The Free Press, 1973. Internet Archive, accessed… Read More ›

• Hume on Persuasion.

  By pammentations on April 9, 2021 • ( 1 )

  In On War Carl Von Clausewitz says war is a continuation of politics by other means. Or, cf. Foucault, the inverse: politics is a continuation of war by other means. My interest is in the ‘other means’, which include political rhetoric.  Broadly… Read More ›

• Some Problems with Complaisance.

  By pammentations on April 7, 2021 • ( 4 )

  If something doesn’t bother me, e.g. the F-word, why should I be bothered that it bothers you? Let’s start with friendship. As Aristotle notes, “[Friends are] those with whom we are on such terms that, while we respect their opinions,… Read More ›

• Saturday Morning Pam-toons. So … what did you do?

  By pammentations on April 3, 2021 • ( 1 )

  So … what did you do? I broke the Law of the Excluded Middle.

• Thoughtlets. XLIII.

  By pammentations on April 3, 2021 • ( 0 )

  Never said in a fit of outrage: I could be wrong.

• Saturday Morning Pam-toons. And from this, an entire political theory.

  By pammentations on March 27, 2021 • ( 0 )

  Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I, Chapter XIII, 3. (p 122)

• Saturday Morning Pam-toons. As Not To Be Weary of It. Thomas Hobbes

  By pammentations on March 20, 2021 • ( 0 )

  Thomas Hobbes, A.P. Martinich and Brian Battiste, Eds, Leviathan, Broadview, 2011. Part I, Chapter XIV, pp 128-129

• Thoughtlets. XLII.

  By pammentations on March 19, 2021 • ( 1 )

  A couple of summers ago I found myself irritated by a teenage girl lying beside a stone bridge along the Llangollen Canal, face stuffed in her cellphone. But why? I’m sure I projected onto her the irritation I feel by… Read More ›

• Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Highlights from the 2020 High Dudgeon Olympics Chicken-Neck Pole Vaulting Event

  By pammentations on March 6, 2021 • ( 1 )

  High Dudgeon Olympics Chicken-Neck Pole Vaulting Event Athletes stand beside a two meter pole marked by one millimetre increments. The athletes’ neck measurements are recorded on the pole by an official marker. Each athlete is then exposed to an individualized… Read More ›

• Fifth Annual High Dudgeon Olympics: August 10 – 21, 2021

  By pammentations on March 5, 2021 • ( 2 )

  Categories: 1) Someone-Said-Something-Wrong-on-the-Internet Typathon (Individual and Team events) Individuals are logged onto a Facebook account with a continuous feed of posts, each followed by a comment thread. Athletes must respond to as many posts and corresponding comments as possible over… Read More ›