Category: Essays

The Instability of Moral Phenomena in Antony and Cleopatra The conception of morality presented herein implies an instability in moral phenomena that is generally overlooked. For if moral actions are determined by our responsibility to a common life that is valued in itself then there must be a particular kind of structure involved. Necessarily, the ways…

    Moral Phenomena and the Form of Inner Experience in Hamlet, The Art of the Fugue and The Tears of Saint Peter Abstract In this book, I present a theory of art as a means of revealing the form of inner experience. Division of the work into two parts reflects a basic distinction between literary and physical…

Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia: A Dramatist’s Enquiry into our Perception of Others  Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia: A Dramatist’s Enquiry into Our Perception of Others Abstract The subject of this essay is an aspect of Hamlet that is fundamental to its structure, namely a parallel between Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude and his relationship with Ophelia. Elucidation of this…

Forms of Enlightenment in Art

On the Dedication for Shakespeare’s Sonnets I offer here an interpretation of the dedication for the Sonnets. It assumes that Shakespeare has written these words to be presented on his behalf by the publisher Thomas Thorpe. This is suggested by their affinity to the challenging wit of the poems, and my observations are intended to…

Sensory Knowledge and Art (2017) Contents Abstract Introduction Part 1 The Physical Object Phenomena and the Elements of Sensory Knowledge Sensory Knowledge and Figurative Language Part 2 The Physical Work of Art: Titian’s The Assumption of the Virgin
 The Elucidation of Sensory Knowledge in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 18 and 5 Intersubjectivity and Indecision in Hamlet Conclusion Bibliography Abstract…

Mechanical and Non-Mechanical Causation Abstract The following argument employs material from my own work in order to examine the role of mental causation in the realization of phenomena. In Sensory Knowledge and Art, I defend the idea that the constitution of the physical object is determined by an act of sensory perception, and this implies the influence…

Perception, Reason and Substance Abstract This discussion presents a view of relations between materiality and self-awareness that I have already expressed in the course of other enquiries. Here the argument is focussed more specifically and precisely on how these relations should be understood, and, in particular, on how sensory perception should be seen in the…

The Inner Necessity of Moral Virtue Abstract In this essay, I develop a conception of morality that was proposed in The Basis of Morality and its Relation to Dramatic Form in a Study of David Copperfield. The leading idea is that human experience and action are governed by the sense of a life that is valued in…

The Form of Inner Experience and The Art of the Fugue Physical Modes as Media of Sensory Perception In the following argument, my purpose is to show how the basic elements of experience determine our knowledge of ourselves and the world. In this connection, I will establish two closely related equations: that of the physical object…