December 12th, 2010 | by Janantoon | published in English texts, FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Berlin is enlightening
The second volume of Isaiah Berlin’s letters, Enlightening, is so much richer than the first one, Flourishing. Of course, he is maturing, the range of his correspondents is widening, many of his ideas about political philosophy and the history of ideas are crystallising. Nevertheless, his style remains the same, his humour, the gossip, etc, all […]
October 18th, 2010 | by Janantoon | published in English texts, FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Isaiah Berlin
I have been reading Isaiah Berlin lately. Last year I read Michael Ignatieff’s splendid biography Isaiah Berlin, A Life. Earlier this year I read the first part of Berlin’s letters: Flourishing. At the moment I am reading the second volume of his letters, Enlightening. Reading his biography and his letters, one can only get more […]
August 5th, 2010 | by Janantoon | published in biografie, English texts, FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Isaiah Berlin, Flourishing
I just read Flourishing, the first part of Isaiah Berlin’s letters. The first impression that springs to mind is the banter, the spirit, the cascade of words. An example of his unique style can be found in a letter to Elizabeth Bowen, 2 January [1934] Dear Elizabeth Thank you very much indeed for your letter: […]
June 9th, 2009 | by Janantoon | published in biografie, English texts, FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Michael Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin. A Life
For some reason Isaiah Berlin has always attracted me. I have a small collection of his works. This biography confirms my liking for this special person. I stumbled upon this book by accident. Now and then I have a look at Yann Martel’s What is Stephen Harper Reading? to see which books he lately sent […]
October 16th, 2008 | by Janantoon | published in biografie, English texts, FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Rüdiger Safranski, Martin Heidegger between good and evil
I have read this book on the train, while toing and froing between home and office. At a rate of something like 3 to 4 pages a day it took me several weeks to read it. And I was lucky to have bought this book in English, because the German original would have been too […]
June 9th, 2008 | by Janantoon | published in FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Erasmus en Rik Torfs
Soms durven uitgevers echt prachtige dingen maken. Dit drieluik is zo’n juweeltje, uitgegeven door Peeters uit Leuven. In een mooi foedraal zitten drie stijlvolle boeken. Het eerste is de Encomium Moriae van Erasmi Roterodami, de complete Latijnse versie van de Lof der Zotheid. Het is een facsimilie van een Bazelse uitgave uit 1515 gedrukt door […]
January 21st, 2008 | by Janantoon | published in biografie, FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Ludwig Wittgenstein, Brieven
Ik heb net de Brieven van Ludwig Wittgenstein gelezen, ttz een kleine selectie uit de fractie van brieven die van hem nog bekend zijn. Brieven geven toch een speciaal inkijkje in iemands manier van zijn. En het minste wat van Wittgenstein kan gezegd worden, is dat hij een bijzonder iemand was. Bijzonder prikkelbaar, bijzonder eerlijk, […]
July 1st, 2007 | by Janantoon | published in FILOSOFIE, textos en castellano | Comments Off on La vida eterna de Fernando Savater
De manera convincente Savater habla sobre el anhelo de la gente por una vida después de la muerte. El autor intenta demostrar que la vida consciente de la muerte y sin el consuelo de la vida eterna es mucho más rico. Un pasaje clave sobre lo sagrado: Nadie conoce a un humano en cuanto humano […]
June 13th, 2007 | by Janantoon | published in English texts, FILOSOFIE | Comments Off on Richard Rorty died on June 8th 2007
Richard Rorty died on Friday June 8th 2007. German philosopher Jürgen Habermas wrote an obituary for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Among contemporary philosophers, I know of none who equalled Rorty in confronting his colleagues – and not only them – over the decades with new perspectives, new insights and new formulations. This awe-inspiring creativity owes much […]
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