Paragraphos Journal https://paragraphos.org/journal Close readings, essays, passages and intellectual lineages across philosophical traditions. en THE SELF https://paragraphos.org/essays/the-self-lineage https://paragraphos.org/essays/the-self-lineage Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT The knower, the claim of ownership, the idea of a persistent person. Three texts make the word ‘self’ difficult in different ways. A lineage of a question, without a claim of historical inheritance. HOW DO YOU SEARCH FOR WHAT YOU DO NOT KNOW? https://paragraphos.org/essays/plato-meno-inquiry https://paragraphos.org/essays/plato-meno-inquiry Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Meno turns ignorance into a trap. The rest of the passage asks whether ignorance has to be as empty as the trap assumes. THE SELF YOU CANNOT FIND https://paragraphos.org/essays/the-self-you-cannot-find https://paragraphos.org/essays/the-self-you-cannot-find Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Two distant philosophical projects place pressure on the idea of a simple, enduring self. Their methods and purposes keep the comparison open. THE VIEW FROM HERE https://paragraphos.org/essays/zhuangzi-qiwulun https://paragraphos.org/essays/zhuangzi-qiwulun Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Every ‘this’ quietly implies a position. One movement through Qíwùlùn: from this and that to the possibility of a less rigid response. THE ROAD YOU CANNOT TAKE https://paragraphos.org/essays/parmenides-b2 https://paragraphos.org/essays/parmenides-b2 Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT One route says that [it] is. The other says that [it] is not. Before asking what reality is, Parmenides makes us examine what inquiry can pursue. THIS IS NOT MINE https://paragraphos.org/essays/sn-22-59-not-self https://paragraphos.org/essays/sn-22-59-not-self Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT What exactly is denied when early Buddhism calls something not-self? Read the negation before turning it into a doctrine. WHERE DOES PHILOSOPHY BEGIN? https://paragraphos.org/essays/where-does-philosophy-begin https://paragraphos.org/essays/where-does-philosophy-begin Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Before we can decide where philosophy begins, we have to decide what counts as philosophy. WHEN DESIRE LEARNS THE MEASURE https://paragraphos.org/essays/confucius-analects-2-4 https://paragraphos.org/essays/confucius-analects-2-4 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Can practice change not only what we do, but what we want? One movement through Analects 2.4, from deliberate discipline toward transformed desire. THE SEER CANNOT BE SEEN https://paragraphos.org/essays/brhadaranyaka-3-4-2 https://paragraphos.org/essays/brhadaranyaka-3-4-2 Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Can the self ever become one more thing among the things it knows? A close reading of the seer, the hearer, the thinker and the knower in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.4.2. DO NOT LISTEN TO ME https://paragraphos.org/essays/heraclitus-b50 https://paragraphos.org/essays/heraclitus-b50 Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT What makes an account worth hearing, if it is not the authority of the person speaking? A close reading of listening, agreement and unity. Why Paragraphos? https://paragraphos.org/essays/why-paragraphos https://paragraphos.org/essays/why-paragraphos Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Paragraphos begins from a simple claim: explanation is useful only when it returns us to the text with better questions.