Author Archives

I’ve completed all but defence of my thesis for a masters in philosophy. My disciplinary interest is in the acquisition and maintenance of our beliefs. But I also have a background in the study of rhetoric, linguistics, and philosophy of language. Political rhetoric particularly interests me.

• Some Problems with Complaisance.

  By pammentations on April 7, 2021 • ( 5 )

  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. 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 ›

• Why is Revenge Sweet?

  By pammentations on March 4, 2021 • ( 0 )

  I can’t imagine there’s a saint among us who’s never wished for a snappy comeback to an insult, never brooded on this failure of words, and never delighted by reimagining herself the victor when she finds them. If only I… Read More ›

• Thoughtlets. XLI.

  By pammentations on March 3, 2021 • ( 2 )

  (Re: the expression “my lived experience”) Here is the list of my experiences that I have not lived:

• An example of beautiful prose in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan.

  By pammentations on February 22, 2021 • ( 0 )

  You’ve surely had that experience where you’ve set down your keys, or a phone number, or a bank card but can’t remember where. You turn your pockets inside out, rifle through the cushions on the sofa, search the crevices of… Read More ›