Michael DeMoor
@michaeldemoor.bsky.social
Political theorist and Dean at the King's University in Edmonton. Pluralism, democracy, history of political thought, but don’t expect much.
Unless they were around for the Klein years, they haven’t been given cause to learn until about a month ago.
Also: what ARE they teaching them in the schools these days?
Also: what ARE they teaching them in the schools these days?
November 26, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Unless they were around for the Klein years, they haven’t been given cause to learn until about a month ago.
Also: what ARE they teaching them in the schools these days?
Also: what ARE they teaching them in the schools these days?
The revelation starts at my messy desk!
November 26, 2025 at 3:41 AM
The revelation starts at my messy desk!
In my tiny bit of R-knowledge, I have used the “tidyverse” command with basically no thought for what it means. Typical.
November 26, 2025 at 3:05 AM
In my tiny bit of R-knowledge, I have used the “tidyverse” command with basically no thought for what it means. Typical.
I guess I am an anglophone philosopher… but I try to have a sense of humour about it.
November 26, 2025 at 3:02 AM
I guess I am an anglophone philosopher… but I try to have a sense of humour about it.
I like that. Tidy is tawdry, Elegant is grand. I’ll go for grand every day because I’m tawdry inside.
November 26, 2025 at 3:01 AM
I like that. Tidy is tawdry, Elegant is grand. I’ll go for grand every day because I’m tawdry inside.
I learned something new! Merci!
November 26, 2025 at 3:00 AM
I learned something new! Merci!
I’ve read the Phenomenology of Spirit, which is an even loftier height. :)
November 26, 2025 at 2:37 AM
I’ve read the Phenomenology of Spirit, which is an even loftier height. :)
One of the chief joys of knowing things is being a killjoy to the ignorant but confident. I get it :)
November 26, 2025 at 2:36 AM
One of the chief joys of knowing things is being a killjoy to the ignorant but confident. I get it :)
Seriously, though, the fact that the owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk doesn’t necessarily mean that all she can see is the night when all cows are black.
November 26, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Seriously, though, the fact that the owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk doesn’t necessarily mean that all she can see is the night when all cows are black.
Stop being right. You’re spoiling my fun.
:)
:)
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Stop being right. You’re spoiling my fun.
:)
:)
I hear you. It’s efficiency of method that grinds my gears, which - I suppose - is why I never really took to math :)
November 26, 2025 at 2:27 AM
I hear you. It’s efficiency of method that grinds my gears, which - I suppose - is why I never really took to math :)
If we do enter a new era of simplification, I’ll be sitting on the sidelines glowering and predicting that it will all end in misery, you just wait and see.
And history will prove me right. And then wrong. And then right again, because that’s how this works.
And history will prove me right. And then wrong. And then right again, because that’s how this works.
November 26, 2025 at 2:26 AM
If we do enter a new era of simplification, I’ll be sitting on the sidelines glowering and predicting that it will all end in misery, you just wait and see.
And history will prove me right. And then wrong. And then right again, because that’s how this works.
And history will prove me right. And then wrong. And then right again, because that’s how this works.
This may even be a (the?) key to intellectual historiography. There are eras bent on simplification and others bent on complexification. I suspect we’re due - in most of the social sciences - for a new age of simplification after a few decades of “it’s even more complicated than we thought.”
November 26, 2025 at 2:24 AM
This may even be a (the?) key to intellectual historiography. There are eras bent on simplification and others bent on complexification. I suspect we’re due - in most of the social sciences - for a new age of simplification after a few decades of “it’s even more complicated than we thought.”
I confess to having felt that satisfaction on occasion… I can see why someone might get hooked on it.
My philosopher’s version of that is the perfectly apposite distinction that suddenly clarifies and brings order to what previously seemed paradoxical and obscure. Music.
My philosopher’s version of that is the perfectly apposite distinction that suddenly clarifies and brings order to what previously seemed paradoxical and obscure. Music.
November 26, 2025 at 2:22 AM
I confess to having felt that satisfaction on occasion… I can see why someone might get hooked on it.
My philosopher’s version of that is the perfectly apposite distinction that suddenly clarifies and brings order to what previously seemed paradoxical and obscure. Music.
My philosopher’s version of that is the perfectly apposite distinction that suddenly clarifies and brings order to what previously seemed paradoxical and obscure. Music.
It’s probably good that we have people making tidy models, because if they didn’t exist I couldn’t be snide about them and therefore be out of a job.
Sorry for the snideness.
Sorry for the snideness.
November 26, 2025 at 2:06 AM
It’s probably good that we have people making tidy models, because if they didn’t exist I couldn’t be snide about them and therefore be out of a job.
Sorry for the snideness.
Sorry for the snideness.
Ah.. that’s where we differ. I prefer metaphysical profligacy in my theories. My theories should be spreading their metaphysics around town like there’s no tomorrow.
November 26, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Ah.. that’s where we differ. I prefer metaphysical profligacy in my theories. My theories should be spreading their metaphysics around town like there’s no tomorrow.
Ok, I’ll forgive you, then. There are domains of life - into which I should never be permitted to stray - in which tidiness is a genuine virtue.
November 26, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Ok, I’ll forgive you, then. There are domains of life - into which I should never be permitted to stray - in which tidiness is a genuine virtue.
But then, I strongly suspect that I might be awful.
November 26, 2025 at 1:19 AM
But then, I strongly suspect that I might be awful.
Nothing interesting is tidy. But maybe I’m just prejudiced against tidy things, though :)
November 26, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Nothing interesting is tidy. But maybe I’m just prejudiced against tidy things, though :)
Couldn’t have said it better!
a man sitting in front of barrels with the words this guy gets it on the bottom
ALT: a man sitting in front of barrels with the words this guy gets it on the bottom
media.tenor.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Couldn’t have said it better!
Exactly. However hard people writing textbooks on public policy try to make it tidy.
rick and morty are sitting at a table with a dinosaur in the background and the words this guy gets it
ALT: rick and morty are sitting at a table with a dinosaur in the background and the words this guy gets it
media.tenor.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Exactly. However hard people writing textbooks on public policy try to make it tidy.
I suppose it does depend and is probably a good thing in math. But a good theorem should still be fecund, right? Fecundity seems to be difficult to reconcile with tidiness… perhaps.
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 AM
I suppose it does depend and is probably a good thing in math. But a good theorem should still be fecund, right? Fecundity seems to be difficult to reconcile with tidiness… perhaps.
In some ways you and I are very different people :)
When I want to praise something for its analytical clarity I will call it perspicuous, but never tidy.
When I want to praise something for its analytical clarity I will call it perspicuous, but never tidy.
November 26, 2025 at 1:02 AM
In some ways you and I are very different people :)
When I want to praise something for its analytical clarity I will call it perspicuous, but never tidy.
When I want to praise something for its analytical clarity I will call it perspicuous, but never tidy.