Pierrick Simon
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pierricksimon.bsky.social
Pierrick Simon
@pierricksimon.bsky.social
1K followers 530 following 1.6K posts
Philosopher. Working on philosophical exercises, philosophy as a way of life, and political disagreements. Enthusiastic about: #phenomenology, #mindfulness, #hermeneutics and the medical humanities.

https://philosophicalexercises.blogspot.com/
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pierricksimon.bsky.social
The Philosophy as a Way of Life seminar is back, with four talks already lined up. #philsky

A monthly online lecture-and-discussion series convened by the International Society for Philosophy as a Way of Life (ISPWL), bringing together scholars to explore philosophy as a way to transform oneself.
Schedule September-December 2026 (Always at 8 PM CET) September 24 Jennifer A. Baker “Four Unique Features of Stoicism: How They Enable and Hinder PWL” October 29 Charles Johnson “Middle Passage Graphic Novel” November 19 Leonard Waks "Formation and the Liberal Arts" December 17 Maeusz Janik "Confucian Robes, Jesuit Body On Monism and the Early Modern Origins of Comparative Philosophy”
September 16, 2026 at 7:17 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
I'm just popping to the shop, does anyone need some Symbolic Logic?
Big stack of issues from the Bulletin of Symbolic Logic and The Journal of Symbolic Logic. Found in a bookstore in France.
September 10, 2026 at 9:52 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
I am reduced to having to interact only with posts of cute animals... And even then... the most upsetting thing that *keeps happening* is that the app feeds me this weird specific art style from hundreds of different accounts: depicting animals philosophizing about suffering and being misunderstood
September 5, 2026 at 7:27 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
September 4, 2026 at 11:19 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
Hell yeah! This is what I'm talking about!!
"I've been staring at a wall everyday for 6 months and it has changed my life"
August 27, 2026 at 10:28 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
A great initiative. Training the mental health workforce to deal with philosophical themes:
"To address this need, we began to discuss continuing professional development (CPD) sessions on philosophical themes repeatedly raised by later-life patients. These include concerns about death, the meaning of life, justice, desert, virtue or the value of ignorance. We formulated the hypothesis that CPD sessions focusing on philosophical topics, led by a researcher with formal training in philosophy, may meet distinct training needs of the mental health workforce. In February 2026, we designed and delivered a CPD session to nurses, psychologists and social workers in the NHS. The session focused on the topics of fear of death and conceptual analysis, and it involved teaching and discussion of these themes."
August 27, 2026 at 7:28 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
A fun exercise to throw on the black board:
August 26, 2026 at 6:39 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
Am I participating in a hate movement? How would I know? Hounding someone to death does not always feel like doing much. We are like the snakes protruding from the back of Cerberus, unaware of being part of a larger monster. We can use this mnemonic image to learn the signs 🧵⬇️ #philsky #philtwit
Line art drawing of Cerberus by Pearson Scott Foresman, donated to Wikimedia Commons. It depicts a three headed hound, with a devil tail and a lot of snakes sprouting from the back of the monster. There are flames on the floor. The impression is that Cerberus is ugly, ferocious, but also it looks a bit desperate and fearful, like Goya's "Saturn devouring his son", for indeed its body and eyes are reminiscent of an ordinary anxious dog. I added captions to the drawing to make a philosophical point: "Anatomy of a Hate Movement, or How Persecuting People Gets Wide Appeal", I labeled the three heads of Cerberus "Insecure Traditionalist", "Insecure Misfit", "Cringe Curator".
August 26, 2026 at 3:06 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
I wanted Star Wars to go back to being more philosophical. I'm glad to see The Clone Wars s01e02 weighing in on Doxastic Voluntarism.
a screen grab from The Clone Wars s01e02, a quote appears on screen and says "Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction"
August 23, 2026 at 9:04 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
But it is not so! Tsai Hsin-yun offers us the key to understand the symbols: with introductory texts, they make clear that the drawings depict the phenomenological "being with", the primacy of relationships as an ontological structure. And they will depict this with the basic elements in this image:
We see three elements: 1) a harlf circle = the “singular object” represents the most reified part of the relationship. 2) a line = the “connection” represents the link between entities, 3) a star made of intersecting lines = the “event” is the rich new display that occurs in the midst of a relationship.
August 19, 2026 at 1:12 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
The symbols seem as esoteric as those of alchemical books. But without even the evocative colours or the lively animal drawings that provide meat on the bones of the abstract geometry! So "worst of both worlds", a philosopher or artist might think, upon discovering this.
Section of the Ripley Scroll, 16th century. Weird colourful symbols. A sort of dragon standing on a winged globe.
August 19, 2026 at 1:12 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
Oh to live in the golden age... Wouldn't that be nice.
Government sponsorship The Islamic Empire heavily patronized scholars. The money spent on the Translation Movement for some translations is estimated to be equivalent to about twice the annual research budget of the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council.[21] The best scholars and notable translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries that are estimated to be the equivalent of professional athletes today.[21] The House of Wisdom was a library established in Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq by Caliph al-Mansur[22] in 825 modeled after the academy of Jundishapur.
August 18, 2026 at 6:28 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
I'm excited to see the eclipse tomorrow at the beach, with the local astronomy club & the people who will gather there. Famously, Philosophy is born of events like this, which provoke awe and wonder. Arresting events that remind us that the world is bigger & stranger than our usual dealings with it.
Drawing by Helen de Cruz, of a Blood Moon they saw. The moon looks huge and majestic, with many luminous details. A bunch of neighbours are gathered to enjoy the spectacle and they are drawn with silvery looking lines, like the moon.
August 11, 2026 at 7:47 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
People should dislike prequel Yoda way more than Jar Jar Binks. Binks serves his purpose in the narrative (unassuming creature who turns out to be important - yoda's schtick in og movies) whereas Yoda is a wise man with nothing wise to say Ever. Except once he criticized the clone wars.. He Started!
August 11, 2026 at 7:09 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
A forest with a tree trunk in which a wooden door is carved: shaped like a four leaf clover to represent a holiday (i assume saint patrick's day?). It's from the movie a Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack the Skeleton Man from Nightmare Before Christmas. is in a forest with tree trunks in which wooden doors are carved: shaped like symbols of the holidays: a turkey for thanksgiving, a christmas tree. Jack is opening the christmas door.
August 9, 2026 at 4:04 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
Posting your lockscreen challenge. Mine is art I commissioned of #Jarlaxle (a charming swashbuckler I have the pleasure of roleplaying every friday when we play #DnD ) drawn by Manou Gijsbrechts (Auwnanas). There's a certain gentleness about this depiction of the cunning rogue.
Jarlaxle Baenre fanart with very gentle lines and colours, mostly purple. Even the way this dark elf wields his sword looks somewhat peaceful
August 7, 2026 at 4:48 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
Oh boy... My brother in Baruch... You are in for a treat!
r/askphilosophy "Is there any proof for Spinozas god?" "I should add, I haven’t read Spinoza himself yet so this question might be answered when I get around to reading him, thanks in advance!"
July 27, 2026 at 3:12 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
The French government released a PSA about eco-anxiety. They start by granting that anxiety is a normal response to the crisis. Then, they claim it becomes pathological when it is "overwhelming", "creates suffering", "disrupts daily life" with "unpleasant emotions (fear, anger, despair)" #philsky
a poster for a French psa about eco-anxiety. I am not sure what the image depicts: a naked woman in a plastic bag, looking overwhelmed? Some of the writing on the poster includes "let's talk mental health!", "how to deal with eco-anxiety", and "understanding this suffering and spotting the early signs".
July 26, 2026 at 12:49 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
Advice I gave to an 18 year old fantasy writer who got feedback from a professional that their writing is good, but that they should first read Hugo, Kundera, Descartes and Kant, before they keep writing, otherwise their book won't be good enough. (Kant?! ... KANT?!!!) #writingcommunity #fantasy
"That seems like a bad piece of advice this professional gave you. I think a better piece of advice would be: look, your art is going to be better if you are inspired by *SOMETHING* that you do a deep dive on. I personally am a philosopher who writes fantasy, so I understand where the impulse comes from to say "how can you do world-building without knowing philosophy?" but, unlike this person, I am not so reckless as to inflict that impulse on people. However it remains true that if you want your world-building and your story to be good, if you want it to feel substantial, gripping, you need to turn to the real world, take a big bite of it (in could be anything, history, geography, sociology, etc) and then it will show up in your writing! What are YOU interested in beside fantasy writing? Find that out, and your fantasy writing will be more interesting to everyone. Have fun! :)"
July 26, 2026 at 7:31 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
It looks like the Exploding Fruit Tree (Hura crepitans). Thankfully for you, it's not the exploding fruit tree. Because otherwise... you know... exploding fruits!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hura_cr...
tree trunk with spikes all over (a species of tree called the dynamite tree)
July 24, 2026 at 6:24 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
I feel like they barely tried with this one. It feels wrong that they would put such low efforts into being predatory. Like, come on! Chase me a little bit.
July 23, 2026 at 3:36 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
When Pierre & Ilsetraut Hadot, echoing Thoreau, declared that professors of philosophy replaced true philosophers, I think they were engaging in what Eric Schliesser calls "philosophic prophecy". This concept helped me to make peace with controversial aspects of their work 🧵⬇️ #philsky #philtwit
Image from the title page to The Strange and Wonderful History of Mother Shipton (1686) An old woman flipping through pages with strange images and diagrams. first page of a book, which reads "The Strange and wonderful history of Mother Shipton : plainly setting forth her prodigious birth, life, death, and burial, with an exact collection of all her famous prophecys, more compleat than ever yet before published. And large explanations, shewing how they have all along been fulfilled to this very year"
July 22, 2026 at 3:09 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
Or maybe it's okay.
picture of a cat lying in dried mint. The poster asks "is it OK for cat to lie in dried mint?"
July 19, 2026 at 7:29 AM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
After watching Severance, I've upgraded to: "What is taking place?"
July 17, 2026 at 1:23 PM
pierricksimon.bsky.social
I am doing my best to survive the heat wave, the ongoing climate catastrophe. My only solace these days is a philosophical exercise that we call "world-building" & that Tolkien called "creating a secondary world" I read his essay "On Fairy Stories" and wow, what a manifesto! ⬇️ #philsky #philtwit
Thomas Cole - Architect’s Dream An architect is seated at the top of a huge pillar of stone. All around them is a vast landscape filled with immense buildings, as if they were "dreamed up" by the architect to fill the world around.
July 13, 2026 at 3:50 PM