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11/8/12
Assholes: A Theory
I'm currently reading and very much enjoying Aaron James's book Assholes: A Theory. It's that rare thing--a philosophy book that's laugh out loud funny. Eric Schwtzgebel has a post about the book, and I see James has an asshole blog. What fun! I think my next TPM column (an arts column) is going to be about assholes I have known and (not) loved--especially at live music venues. So far I've found James's characterization of asshole-ry very illuminating, apart from the fact that I tend to think of people as acting like assholes (intermittently) and rarely think someone is an asshole. James tries to explain what it is to be an asshole, not what asshole-ish behavior amounts to. We'll see ... More on the book when I'm done.
Excellent! I wholeheartedly endorse this theory. Though Eric Schwitzgebel offers an important corrective: schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2012/11/aaron-jamess-theory-of-assholes.html
ReplyDeleteMore generally, been super busy the last several weeks. Nice to come back to your blog and find so many great posts!
Nice to "see" you, Faust. Just got around to reading Eric S's post, and he makes a good point. The assholes I've been running into lately do have lots of rationalizations, so don't act as if they are immune to criticism. Then again, maybe they do feel immune, deep down.
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