Manifesto The Philosophy of Today is both a religion and a philosophy; it satisfies both spiritual needs and intellectual demands. It has given up on traditional religion, monotheistic religion. It doesn’t believe in a Creator God, a Ruling God, a Judging God. But it also is wary of atheism because it believes that the universe is suffused with energy, power, mystery, even a kind of consciousness. Thus, it isn’t exactly atheist, and it isn’t exactly theist; one might say that it defines god in a different way, or calls god by a different name. The Philosophy of Today is akin to Eastern worldviews, such as Zen, insofar as those Eastern worldviews are both a philosophy and a religion, and those Eastern worldviews are neither atheist nor theist (in a Western sense). The Philosophy of Today heals the rift that has sundered philosophy and religion since the time of Descartes. Religion has long been based on faith and revelation, while philosophy has been based on reason. But our religion isn’t based on faith, and our philosophy isn’t based on reason.  Continue

Conversations With Great Thinkers Most people today never become truly educated — even if they graduate from college. Colleges today emphasize vocational training instead of education in the humanities. Even students who focus on the humanities usually acquire only specialized knowledge, not broad education. This book brings together the various branches of the humanities... Continue See Cover Reader Comments: Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of Int'l Relations, U. of Pennsylvania: "A unique and fascinating book, a rare modern example of philosophy the way it was written before professionalization." Dong Leshan, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: "I read the book at one breath, and liked it very much. Every chapter contains flashes of wisdom. It's the product of wide reading and deep thinking." Continue

Who's Hammond? I became acquainted with philosophy and literature at age fifteen. Until then, I was interested mainly in sports, like other American youngsters. But when I stumbled across a world history textbook, a textbook that had been written for youngsters, the whole world of culture was suddenly revealed to me. The historical personage who caught my imagination most was...  Continue My Journey Who's Nietzsche? General Remarks On the Writer as Father Figure The Dostoyevsky-Nietzsche Equation Nietzsche's Break With Schopenhauer Nietzsche and Freud on Morality Nietzsche's Big Idea: Morality = Decadence More on Nietzsche Who's Shakespeare? The conventional view is that Shakespeare was a man from the small, country town of Stratford. Many people, however, reject the conventional view, and argue that Shakespeare was the pen name of... Continue Oxford vs. Stratford: A Short Introduction Why Stratfordians Are So Stubborn Shakespeare: Objective or Subjective? Shakespeare's Worldview Hamlet's Dark Side Shakespeare's Secret Son:   The Prince Tudor Theory Travels & Memoirs A Connecticut Yankee in the Land of the Dragon Ten Days in France Two Weeks in England Two Weeks in Italy Two Weeks in Prague & Germany Summer on Nantucket Nantucket Notes Yafei Dad My Youth in China   by Yafei Hu and L. James Hammond A Baby From China Caribbean Notes A Week in Saint Martin A Caribbean Cruise The Inca Trail When I Was A Girl: The Memoirs of   Louisa Ashley Hammond, 1831-1912 History & Current Events Who Shot John F. Kennedy? Chappaquiddick 9/11 Jihad Philosophy: Qutb & Shariati Kristols, Neo-conservatives, Iraq, etc. Leo Strauss and George W. Bush Bush vs. Kerry The Weekly Standard Andrew Sullivan vs. David Brooks Quiz: Ten Neglected Philosophers 1. This American philosopher touched the lives of tens of millions of Americans with his books and his TV appearances. He deals with the major philosophical questions, yet he isn’t viewed as a philosopher. As a boy, he visited the Museum of Natural History in New York, and this visit shaped his career. Died in 1987. Fill in blank. Last name is sufficient.

Subscribe to Free Newsletter on Philosophy & Literature The newsletter (known as Phlit) is published every 2-8 weeks via e-mail. To subscribe, and to see back issues, click here. Search This Site Enter text, then click Search. Dispute With Analytic Philosophers In September, 1994, I began using the Internet. I joined a group called PHILOSOP, which described itself as a "Philosophy Discussion Forum." Most of the members of the group were philosophy professors. After I had been in PHILOSOP a few days, I posted the following message:  Continue Decadence and Renaissance (Chapter 12 of Conversations With Great Thinkers) Seven Theses I. Organisms have life- and death-instincts. II. Society is an organism. III. Society has life- and death-instincts. IV. When the life-instinct is predominant in a society, the result is a renaissance-type society; when the death-instinct is predominant in a society, the result is a decadent society. V. When the death-instinct in a society reaches an extreme, it turns into its opposite, the life-instinct. VI. Decadence, or the death-instinct, has now reached an extreme in most Western societies. VII. The death-instinct, having reached an extreme in most Western societies, will now turn into its opposite, the life-instinct. Thus, most Western societies are at the start of a renaissance. Continue Feedback on This Site See what others have said about this website, and about my e-zine (Phlit). Send your own feedback. Continue A Philosopher's Notebook: Quotations and Commentary Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. --Emerson Proust Passages from Proust, arranged by subject Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher, best known for his Essays Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), emperor of France; these selections are from books on Napoleon Ortega José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955), Spanish philosopher, best known for his Revolt of the Masses Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American philosopher, best known as the author of Walden

Realms of Gold: A Sketch of Western Literature 1. Philosophy Schopenhauer Kierkegaard Nietzsche Emerson Thoreau Carlyle Wilde Mill Leopardi Ortega Hoffer Ancient Philosophers Montaigne Descartes and Pascal Other French Philosophers Bacon Other British Philosophers Lichtenberg, Kant and Hegel Weininger and Spengler 2. Psychology Freud Jung Adler Other Psychologists Psychological Interpretations of    Literature and Art 3. Literature Kafka Proust Joyce Gide Mann and Hesse Tolstoy Dostoyevsky Chekhov Other Russian Writers Ibsen Shakespeare Other English Writers Monsters Dickens Hardy Robert Louis Stevenson Conrad Rudyard Kipling E. M. Forster D. H. Lawrence Shaw and Wells Chesterton and Belloc Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene Somerset Maugham Wodehouse and Christie Anatole France Maupassant Flaubert Other French Writers Three Spanish Writers Washington Irving James Fenimore Cooper Hawthorne Longfellow Poe Whitman Melville Mark Twain Henry Adams Henry James Jack London Hemingway Thomas Wolfe Faulkner Other American Writers Kundera, Musil, and Broch Middle-Eastern and Indian Poets Lorca Pessoa Isaac Bashevis Singer Ancient Writers 4. History General History Burckhardt Huizinga Toynbee Ancient History Medieval History Renaissance History American History Napoleon and Hitler Kedourie, etc. Goitein and Grunebaum Kennan Other Modern Historians Biographies and Autobiographies 5. Miscellaneous Ruskin Berenson Other Art Historians Tocqueville Solzhenitsyn Bloom and Edmundson Matthew Arnold Max Weber Thorstein Veblen Morris and Lorenz Science Richard Feynman Toffler Riesman Philip Howard Laurens van der Post Frazer, etc. Zen Literature Tibetan Wisdom Basho Joseph Campbell Lovejoy, Kuhn, and the History of Science