Even the title of this is something of a contradiction – unless we intend the term “nothing” to denote something more like “nothing in particular,” where we do not in fact mean “nothing” literally. But we do mean it literally, don’t we?

We understand the term chiefly as involving negation, where we understand something simultaneously as what it is and what it is not: our understanding or definition of a thing carries with it an implied understanding and definition of what it is...

Village Idiot

I'm growing rather tired of games that force you to kill people, where the objective of the mission, or even the game itself, revolves around the murdering of other people/creatures.

I understand shooting and killing is "fun" in that childish way - like playing cops and robbers; and I understand that it's also intense and exhilarating in that "adult" way - simulating war and other forms of extreme violence.

But as games grow in depth and potential...

Village Idiot

The thesis of what follows is that Nietzsche’s view of morality represents a larger conflict inherent in human psychology. This larger conflict may be called the problem of self and other, or the paradox of faith, following Kierkegaard, but either way the emphasis will be the same: that any discussion of morality will be symptomatic of this larger conflict.

Nietzsche famously draws a distinction between two types of morality: herd and master. He does so, he tells us, out of the spirit...

Village Idiot