Philosophical Studies

My work often features essays on specific thinkers, performing deep philosophical excavations of ideas I consider foundational or misunderstood. These studies serve to “clear the ground” or, at the very least, introduce you to thinkers that are valuable for this project. Here you will find a useful list of resources to get started.

Heraclitus: The Philosopher of Strife

In my study of Heraclitus, I attempt to awaken the “based warrior” from the “collective hallucination” of Homeric nostalgia. I argue that Heraclitus was the first to break the “zombie-dream” of the ancient world by emphasizing the Logos—a hidden attunement where “war is common, and strife is justice”. Crucially, I correct the common view of Heraclitus as a philosopher of pure, chaotic flux, arguing instead for “stability through change”: a river remains a river only because its waters are constantly flowing.

Aristotle: Naturalist Total Human Flourishing

My analysis of Aristotle seeks his “un-lame-ification” by rescuing him from his typical anachronistic Christian moral framing. I portray Aristotle as a thoroughly this-worldly philosopher of eudaimonia (total human flourishing or happiness) who argues that the individual cannot be separated from the polity. He possesses a rarely-mentioned “Luciferian core” which refers to Aristotle’s command that man should not think “human things” because he is human, but should instead strive to “make oneself immortal” through the activity of the intellect (theoria), effectively becoming godlike through reason.

Friedrich Nietzsche: The Not-So-Pagan Futurist

I devote poasts to Nietzsche, primarily to deconstruct the “lazy, reactionary reading” of him as a mere pagan revivalist. I identify the common three phases in Nietzsche’s thought: early Romantic Hellenism, middle “scientific positivism,” and final Dionysian futurism. I emphasize that Nietzsche’s mature project was not a “RETVRN” to old gods but a call for value-creation and the arrival of the Übermensch.

I also champion “Nietzschean Asceticism,” arguing that Nietzsche viewed self-denial and the “tyranny over lesser impulses” as essential tools for the “Sovereign Individual”.

Martin Heidegger: From Masters to Shepherds

My engagement with Heidegger focuses on the philosopher’s later “Turning” away from human subjectivism. I explore the shift from viewing man as a “lord of entities” who exploits the world as a “warehouse” (the egoistic utilitarian stance) to viewing humans as “Shepherds of Being”. This receptive guardianship involves Gelassenheit (releasement), or letting things be in their own nature.

I also cross-posted a work titled The Tao of Heidegger by John Stoszkowski that explores the deep kinship between later Heideggerian thought and Taoism, particularly regarding the “Way” and non-forcing (wu wei).

Traditionalists: The Regressive Essentialists

In my book-length polemic Beyond Traditionalism, I dissect “Capital-T Traditionalists” like René Guénon and Julius Evola. I critique their worldview as a “regressive, static, and backwards-looking” project centered on a fixed “Ultra-Super God”. It’s basically a critique of Neoplatonism or Advaita Vedanta. By contrasting their “Static Being” with Darwinian evolution and the Vital Impulse, I attempt to make the area clear for a philosophy that embraces perpetual change and creative self-overcoming.

Ayn Rand: The Toothless Egoist

In a co-authored work with my dear friend T.T Tarasios, we explore the strange overlap between Ayn Rand and Nietzsche. While we find common ground in their shared disdain for the herd and commitment to life-affirmation, Rand is ultimately critiqued for being “practically toothless”. We argue that because Rand remains a moral realist who believes in “Objective Reason,” she lacks the “bite” of the Nietzschean Overman who accepts terrible truths and moves “beyond good and evil”.

Bruce Lee: The Tao of the Octagon

I reinterpret Bruce Lee not as a movie star but as a “profound thinker” whose philosophy of “no style” served as a preamble to MMA. I frame Lee’s approach as a form of radical perspectivism and “Total Dogma Death,” arguing that one must “empty their cup” of rigid ideologies to perceive reality in its totality.

Yukio Mishima’s Violent Aesthetics

In a work published in Vitalist Magazine, Cosmic Louche explores Yukio Mishima’s philosophy of aestheticism, examining how he believed beauty should be pursued independently of morality through extreme sensory experiences, death, and the ultimate fusion of art and life.