It’s been a long time coming, but my second book, The Revenge of Reason, is finally available to buy. There are so many things in here that were written or given as talks long ago but never actually published, and it’s nice to know people will finally be able to reference them properly. As readers of the blog may already know, I’ve struggled to write consistently and struggled even more to publish any of it in the last 10 years, due to a mixture of bipolar disorder, a couple surprise health problems, inconsistent employment, and a myriad of bad choices. Yet I’ve somehow managed to build a modest reputation as a philosopher worth paying attention to, and acquired a small following of people who pay such attention. Thanks to everyone who has listened and given support over the years, this one is for you.

The book collects essays written over the last 15 years or so, along with a couple interviews, ranging across a wide variety of topics, covering everything from realist metaphysics to the philosophy of games. But it begins with a sequence of 5 essays written over the last 10 years that between them construct a coherent neorationalist perspective on the nature of mind, agency, selfhood, and value. This book might not contain a fully articulated philosophical system, but it does present the outline of an integrated worldview, in which questions about conceptual revision, personal autonomy, and the nature of beauty intersect, anatomizing the deep philosopical bond between reason and freedom.