Category Archives: ways of knowing

“Serving others”

Posted on May 24, 2017 by hessd

In one of my favorite episodes (Season 5, Episode 6) of The West Wing, President Bartlet loses his sense of how vitally important the presidency is. He has flown to Oklahoma to lend whatever support he can to a tornado-stricken … Continue reading →

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Hey wait. There IS another way

Posted on April 24, 2017 by hessd

I love those moments when the familiar options suddenly turn themselves inside out and everything looks instantly different. Daniel J. Levitin gave an amazing example in the New York Times of March 25 (here) and I have been looking for … Continue reading →

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How “it” really happened

Posted on February 18, 2017 by hessd

I am going to wind up saying that I don’t know how it really happened and before you start pressing me on just what “it” I have in mind, I want to say that I don’t have one in mind. … Continue reading →

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Yesterday when it is past

Posted on October 4, 2016 by hessd

Today I would like to tell you about some surprises I have encountered in moving from one kind of life to another. That sounds more momentous that it would really need to but I am going to start with a … Continue reading →

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Almost Easter, 2016

Posted on March 27, 2016 by hessd

Today, the Saturday before Easter, doesn’t have a name so far as I know. In the church Bette and I attend, there are special services for Maundy Thursday [1] and Good Friday [2] and of course, on Easter [3]. At … Continue reading →

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Jonathan Haidt’s “Inner Lawyer”

Posted on November 24, 2015 by hessd

Jonathan Haidt offers the third illustration in the clutch of three we are examining. All three involve two functions—actively suppressing information and not receiving the information—but it gets complicated because I am the person who plays both parts. I hide … Continue reading →

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Sincerely Heretical

Posted on November 22, 2015 by hessd

This is “When I lie to myself, I don’t believe me, Part 2”  It is the second of a series of three essays which, I maintain, are about the same issue. Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t, but the … Continue reading →

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Screwtape and Salience Games

Posted on October 11, 2015 by hessd

From the time I first read The Screwtape Letters (TSL), I have been intrigued by the way Screwtape plays with salience. And that was before I spent four very concentrated years at the University of Oregon studying salience. In this … Continue reading →

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Gay and Married in Kentucky

Posted on September 4, 2015 by hessd

I don’t want to be troublesome. Really I don’t. But this matter of the county clerk in Kentucky is just really interesting. I’d like to look at several other instances of defiance of the law, just so we have a … Continue reading →

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Getting Over It

Posted on August 6, 2015 by hessd

Day 1 My version of the truth is that I came to “causal attribution” as a tool for doctoral study for perfectly good academic reasons. [1] Bette thinks I turned to that kind of research because I was a natural … Continue reading →

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