Peripatetic Xander
@peripateticxander.bsky.social
Philosopher—Lifter of weights—Aristotelian—Developmentalist—Bibliophile. 🏳️🌈 🧸
“A gentleman is never rude except on purpose.” - Christopher Hitchens
“A gentleman is never rude except on purpose.” - Christopher Hitchens
Pinned
“Despite all the efforts of the prosecution, everybody could see that this man [Eichmann] was not a ‘monster,’ but it was difficult indeed not to suspect that he was a clown.” - Hannah Arendt, *Eichmann in Jersusalem*
Although there’s a fundamental tension between order and freedom—one necessarily comes at a cost to the other—there can’t be any kind of freedom worth having without order.
There’s no real freedom in chaos—as the United States continues to spiral into chaos, freedom will evaporate along with order.
There’s no real freedom in chaos—as the United States continues to spiral into chaos, freedom will evaporate along with order.
December 7, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Although there’s a fundamental tension between order and freedom—one necessarily comes at a cost to the other—there can’t be any kind of freedom worth having without order.
There’s no real freedom in chaos—as the United States continues to spiral into chaos, freedom will evaporate along with order.
There’s no real freedom in chaos—as the United States continues to spiral into chaos, freedom will evaporate along with order.
The modern moral vocabulary, and the ideas it represents, is a bundle of linguistic and conceptual knots that render it unfit for scientific inquiry.
Thus, the scientific purpose behind performing a genealogy of morals—a history of moral concepts—is to show how these knots were tied and untie them.
Thus, the scientific purpose behind performing a genealogy of morals—a history of moral concepts—is to show how these knots were tied and untie them.
December 5, 2025 at 4:22 AM
The modern moral vocabulary, and the ideas it represents, is a bundle of linguistic and conceptual knots that render it unfit for scientific inquiry.
Thus, the scientific purpose behind performing a genealogy of morals—a history of moral concepts—is to show how these knots were tied and untie them.
Thus, the scientific purpose behind performing a genealogy of morals—a history of moral concepts—is to show how these knots were tied and untie them.
In an Aristotelian way of thinking about moral error, the concept of guilt has no place.
In antiquity, guilt was a purely legal notion. Break the law, you are guilty.
Guilt only makes sense as moral concept once Christians, starting with Augustine, regard moral error as a violation of divine law.
In antiquity, guilt was a purely legal notion. Break the law, you are guilty.
Guilt only makes sense as moral concept once Christians, starting with Augustine, regard moral error as a violation of divine law.
December 4, 2025 at 3:37 PM
In an Aristotelian way of thinking about moral error, the concept of guilt has no place.
In antiquity, guilt was a purely legal notion. Break the law, you are guilty.
Guilt only makes sense as moral concept once Christians, starting with Augustine, regard moral error as a violation of divine law.
In antiquity, guilt was a purely legal notion. Break the law, you are guilty.
Guilt only makes sense as moral concept once Christians, starting with Augustine, regard moral error as a violation of divine law.
Do you ever just stop and ask yourself, “What is Adrian Vermeule up to these days?”
November 28, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Do you ever just stop and ask yourself, “What is Adrian Vermeule up to these days?”
I have become so convinced that the belief that knowledge is a sufficient condition for action is so pervasive that it qualifies as a genuine cognitive bias.
November 28, 2025 at 3:58 AM
I have become so convinced that the belief that knowledge is a sufficient condition for action is so pervasive that it qualifies as a genuine cognitive bias.
Most people aren’t philosophically wedded to any particular form of government, whether liberal democracy or communism.
People judge governments by their results. They want a government that can solve society’s problems. If liberal democracy can’t do that, they will gravitate toward something else.
People judge governments by their results. They want a government that can solve society’s problems. If liberal democracy can’t do that, they will gravitate toward something else.
November 21, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Most people aren’t philosophically wedded to any particular form of government, whether liberal democracy or communism.
People judge governments by their results. They want a government that can solve society’s problems. If liberal democracy can’t do that, they will gravitate toward something else.
People judge governments by their results. They want a government that can solve society’s problems. If liberal democracy can’t do that, they will gravitate toward something else.
One of the greatest impediments to understanding classical texts stems from the fact that they have all too often been translated into English by dusty old British men, who have not one but several sticks up their bums, as well as in their eyes, ears, and throat.
We need to un-British antiquity.
We need to un-British antiquity.
November 21, 2025 at 5:14 PM
One of the greatest impediments to understanding classical texts stems from the fact that they have all too often been translated into English by dusty old British men, who have not one but several sticks up their bums, as well as in their eyes, ears, and throat.
We need to un-British antiquity.
We need to un-British antiquity.
Eutrapelia (εὐτραπελία) is the capacity to bond with other people and foster human connection through play.
ἡ ἔμμελης ὁμιλία = attuned togetherness
ἡ ἔμμελης ὁμιλία = attuned togetherness
November 7, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Eutrapelia (εὐτραπελία) is the capacity to bond with other people and foster human connection through play.
ἡ ἔμμελης ὁμιλία = attuned togetherness
ἡ ἔμμελης ὁμιλία = attuned togetherness
ἡ ἔμμελης ὁμιλία = attuned companionship
November 6, 2025 at 2:22 AM
ἡ ἔμμελης ὁμιλία = attuned companionship
Eutrapelia is the right use of play for the sake of relational attunement.
November 6, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Eutrapelia is the right use of play for the sake of relational attunement.
Eutrapelia is the virtue of achieving relational attunement through play.
And insofar as achieving relational attunement through play is part of the task (ergon) of being human, eutrapelia is clearly a quality that makes a person good at being human, and qualifies as a virtue in the strong sense.
And insofar as achieving relational attunement through play is part of the task (ergon) of being human, eutrapelia is clearly a quality that makes a person good at being human, and qualifies as a virtue in the strong sense.
November 3, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Eutrapelia is the virtue of achieving relational attunement through play.
And insofar as achieving relational attunement through play is part of the task (ergon) of being human, eutrapelia is clearly a quality that makes a person good at being human, and qualifies as a virtue in the strong sense.
And insofar as achieving relational attunement through play is part of the task (ergon) of being human, eutrapelia is clearly a quality that makes a person good at being human, and qualifies as a virtue in the strong sense.
Recent comments made by Steve Bannon reveal in the clearest possible terms what I think should have been obvious all along:
There exists a tension between democracy and the rule of law.
What if a majority of the electorate votes for something illegal, if the will of the people is unconstitutional?
There exists a tension between democracy and the rule of law.
What if a majority of the electorate votes for something illegal, if the will of the people is unconstitutional?
October 27, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Recent comments made by Steve Bannon reveal in the clearest possible terms what I think should have been obvious all along:
There exists a tension between democracy and the rule of law.
What if a majority of the electorate votes for something illegal, if the will of the people is unconstitutional?
There exists a tension between democracy and the rule of law.
What if a majority of the electorate votes for something illegal, if the will of the people is unconstitutional?
Reared in the modern moral outlook, we are always haunted by the suspicion that fun and play have nothing whatsoever to do with virtue, but if we take Aristotle seriously, then this suspicion is unfounded.
October 24, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reared in the modern moral outlook, we are always haunted by the suspicion that fun and play have nothing whatsoever to do with virtue, but if we take Aristotle seriously, then this suspicion is unfounded.
The exceptional degree of playfulness exhibited by and between human adults is plausibly explained by the species’ extreme neoteny.
October 22, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The exceptional degree of playfulness exhibited by and between human adults is plausibly explained by the species’ extreme neoteny.
Of all of Aristotle’s virtues, perhaps none is more counterintuitive to our modern sensibilities than eutrapelia, and this is precisely why I have chosen to study it.
October 22, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Of all of Aristotle’s virtues, perhaps none is more counterintuitive to our modern sensibilities than eutrapelia, and this is precisely why I have chosen to study it.
In comparison to what China will become, the Soviet Union will be nothing but a footnote in history.
October 19, 2025 at 3:21 AM
In comparison to what China will become, the Soviet Union will be nothing but a footnote in history.
People need to feel free to act freely.
This is why people will always prioritize order over freedom.
Even if you’re free on paper, without order, you don’t feel free to exercise that freedom.
Order isn’t the enemy of freedom.
Chaos is.
The arbitrary rule of a tyrant is not order.
It’s chaos.
This is why people will always prioritize order over freedom.
Even if you’re free on paper, without order, you don’t feel free to exercise that freedom.
Order isn’t the enemy of freedom.
Chaos is.
The arbitrary rule of a tyrant is not order.
It’s chaos.
October 15, 2025 at 11:42 PM
People need to feel free to act freely.
This is why people will always prioritize order over freedom.
Even if you’re free on paper, without order, you don’t feel free to exercise that freedom.
Order isn’t the enemy of freedom.
Chaos is.
The arbitrary rule of a tyrant is not order.
It’s chaos.
This is why people will always prioritize order over freedom.
Even if you’re free on paper, without order, you don’t feel free to exercise that freedom.
Order isn’t the enemy of freedom.
Chaos is.
The arbitrary rule of a tyrant is not order.
It’s chaos.
Because “moral development” refers to the process of becoming good at being human, the virtues are the fulfillment of certain uniquely human capacities for reason and shared life.
Because they are neotenous, human adults retain a robust capacity for childishness, of which playfulness is the virtue.
Because they are neotenous, human adults retain a robust capacity for childishness, of which playfulness is the virtue.
October 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Because “moral development” refers to the process of becoming good at being human, the virtues are the fulfillment of certain uniquely human capacities for reason and shared life.
Because they are neotenous, human adults retain a robust capacity for childishness, of which playfulness is the virtue.
Because they are neotenous, human adults retain a robust capacity for childishness, of which playfulness is the virtue.
Because “moral development” refers to the process of becoming good at being human, the virtues are the fulfillment of certain uniquely human capacities for reason and shared life.
If human beings are neotenous, adults retain some capacity for childishness, of which playfulness would be the virtue.
If human beings are neotenous, adults retain some capacity for childishness, of which playfulness would be the virtue.
October 4, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Because “moral development” refers to the process of becoming good at being human, the virtues are the fulfillment of certain uniquely human capacities for reason and shared life.
If human beings are neotenous, adults retain some capacity for childishness, of which playfulness would be the virtue.
If human beings are neotenous, adults retain some capacity for childishness, of which playfulness would be the virtue.
Whatever function play behavior serves in childhood (e.g., preparation for adult life), if by neotenic processes playfulness is retained into adulthood, then it seems plausible that although play may serve additional purposes beyond adolescence, it nonetheless has become constitutive of being human.
October 4, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Whatever function play behavior serves in childhood (e.g., preparation for adult life), if by neotenic processes playfulness is retained into adulthood, then it seems plausible that although play may serve additional purposes beyond adolescence, it nonetheless has become constitutive of being human.
Fancy version has dropped!
September 24, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Fancy version has dropped!
In which I discuss the role of friendship between men in moral development and the formation of good character.
academic.oup.com/jope/advance...
academic.oup.com/jope/advance...
August 23, 2025 at 9:52 PM
In which I discuss the role of friendship between men in moral development and the formation of good character.
academic.oup.com/jope/advance...
academic.oup.com/jope/advance...
In the pre-Christian West, “ethics” essentially meant the art of being a person.
It entailed a thick conception of what a human being is, and consequently entailed facts about what is good and bad for human beings (facts about human flourishing).
“Morality” has its origins outside this tradition.
It entailed a thick conception of what a human being is, and consequently entailed facts about what is good and bad for human beings (facts about human flourishing).
“Morality” has its origins outside this tradition.
August 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
In the pre-Christian West, “ethics” essentially meant the art of being a person.
It entailed a thick conception of what a human being is, and consequently entailed facts about what is good and bad for human beings (facts about human flourishing).
“Morality” has its origins outside this tradition.
It entailed a thick conception of what a human being is, and consequently entailed facts about what is good and bad for human beings (facts about human flourishing).
“Morality” has its origins outside this tradition.
Freedom is a state of character marked by the absence of undue attachment to things that don’t really matter, as determined by practical wisdom.
August 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Freedom is a state of character marked by the absence of undue attachment to things that don’t really matter, as determined by practical wisdom.