Jan Höglund's Blog

Category: Philosophy

  • A Critique of Iain McGilchrist

    McGilchrist says that attention is a moral act, but what if he doesn’t see what he doesn’t see? He has replaced one formula (it’s not either/or but both/and) with another more complicated, and, notably, more subtle, one (it’s not either/or or both/and, but either/or and both/and). He loves it! He’s very good at this kind…

  • The Hemisphere Hypothesis

    This post is about Iain McGilchrist’s hemisphere hypothesis. The post is written as a fictional conversation between McGilchrist and myself. I have taken McGilchrist’s answers from his two books The Master and His Emissary and The Matter with Things. I end the post with some of my own thoughts. (My emphasis in italics.) What is…

  • Retrospective 2024-39

    This is a retrospective of week 39, 2024 (2024-09-23–2024-09-29). I’ve continued immersing myself in Iain McGilchrist’s work this week. I was also reminded by Christopher Alexander’s work in two articles by Bonnitta Roy and Or Ettinger, respectively. I will come back to that. I’ve reviewed what McGilchrist writes about lateralization during the week, but came,…

  • Tom Campbell and Iain McGilchrist on the Nature of Reality

    The following is from a discussion between Tom Campbell and Iain McGilchrist on the nature of reality. Iain McGilchrist is asked to start with providing an “elevator pitch”: Iain (6:05): Yes, I ought to be able to give an elevator pitch… I begin from exploring…the difference between the two brain hemispheres. … These two parts…

  • Retrospective 2024-17

    This is a retrospective of week 17, 2024 (2024-04-22–2024-04-28). I’ve spent the week looking into Forrest Landry’s work. This means that I’ve continued reading An Immanent Metaphysics and listened to some podcasts. Here is a post from earlier this week which is based on one of the podcasts. Below are some additional quotes from two…

  • Retrospective 2024-16

    This is a retrospective of week 16, 2024 (2024-04-15–2024-04-21). It turned out that I didn’t write the review of Elisabet Sahtouris’ latest book as mentioned last week. Instead I’ve dived deep into the work of Forrest Landry. I heard about Forrest Landry the first time this week in Tim Freke’s interview with David Schmachtenberger. I…

  • Retrospective 2014-14

    This is a retrospective of week 14, 2024 (2024-04-01–2024-04-07). My first grandchild, Alice, was born on April 2nd. Below is my drawing of her hand. I am moved to tears when I see her and I am grateful that everything went well. Here is also another drawing of Alice. I found the following quote the…

  • Retrospective 2024-02

    This is a retrospective of week 2 2024 (2024-01-08–2024-01-14). Here is the retrospective of the previous week. I’m currently reading the following books: I’ve started reading: Notes:1. See Attention as a moral Act: Iain McGilchrist and Jonathan Rowson in Conversation, YouTube, https://youtu.be/YHUGuUhB1c4. Accessed: 2024-01-14. Published: 2023-03-06.2. David Ellerman makes principled arguments against the rental of…

  • Learning from Masanobu Fukuoka’s philosophy

    Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008) pioneered natural farming. I think we have much to learn from Masanobu Fukuoka’s philosophy. Masanobu Fukuoka’s approach to natural farming entailed minimal human interference with nature. He saw nature as interconnected and resisted the urge to impose structure. Instead of action, he experimented with inaction. Instead of adding work, he attempted to…

  • Matthew Segall on Whitehead

    Matthew Segall’s book the Physics of the World-Soul: The Relevance of Alfred North Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism to Contemporary Scientific Cosmology places Whitehead’s cosmology in a historical context dating back to Plato. Segall also compares Whitehead’s philosophy with today’s scientific cosmology. One of Segall’s main arguments is that “a coherent naturalistic perspective on the relationship…