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In my newsletter, Armchair Vertigo, I write about what we know but do not believe.
—David J. Frost
If you came here after reading my Missouri Review essay on free will, WELCOME.
That essay is part of an overarching project—that I call Armchair Vertigo—which is about truths we know but do not believe. It’s about the dizzying gap between what we know in theory and what we can actually believe or live by. We know the sun does not set, but “sunsets” remain our lived reality. We may deny free will, but still blame, praise, apologize, and resent. We know we will die but mostly live as if we will not. That is the space in which I write my weekly newsletter. Please subscribe now.
(If you have not yet read my Missouri Review essay, you can get a complimentary PDF copy of the otherwise paywalled essay by signing up for Armchair Vertigo.)
After reading my Missouri Review essay, perhaps you’d enjoy these essays next
Behind the scenes of my process writing the free will essay for the Missouri Review
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For an essay discussing the behind-the-scenes process of writing The Missouri Review essay about denying free will. Including 20,000 words of unpublished sections, a chronicling of the researching and writing processes, the way denying free will affected me while writing, the way it all affected my romantic relationship.
Writing and revising the free will article took me years. Yes, years. It was way back in December of 2022 that you could find me researching the role free will played in denying line-of-duty death benefits to surviving family members of police officers who commit suicide. It was way back in June 2023 when I first corresponded by email with Robert Sapolsky. The drama with my first submission—and the invitation to revise and resubmit, the offer to publish online-only instead of in the physical journal... and my demurral—happened in March 2024.
On the Genealogy of Happiness
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For the more philosophical or intellectual history side of my writing:
Before Socrates, the ancient Greeks thought that a good or happy life (eudaimonia) was almost entirely a matter of luck or good fortune. Eudaimonia literally translates to “good spirit,” from eu=good and daimon=demon/spirit. Daron MacMahon, author of ...Halfway Twice is Not Yet Once
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For lyrical nonfiction about a tragedy that befell my community when I was fourteen years old:
When we were thirteen-years old, my best friend, Matt, introduced me to punk rock. The year was 1987 and until then my limited music collection consisted of vinyl records of Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys, bootleg cassette copies of Doug E. Fresh and the Fresh Prince, plus cassette tapes I’d purchased of Kool Moe Dee’s “How Ya Like Me Now” and “Crushin’” by the Fat Boys.
Subscribe to my Armchair Vertigo newsletter
Please subscribe to my newsletter for one substantial essay each week (sent to your email inbox), plus shorter amuse-bouche on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (posted to the website, not sent to your email).
Free and paid subscribers get a complimentary PDF version of my Missouri Review essay, “Sleepwalking Towards Bethlehem,” which is behind a $24 paywall on the website of The Missouri Review. It’s the same beautifully laid out pages as are in the physical journal, which Missouri Review subscribers will be receiving in their snail mail boxes in August. Yours now upon sign up.
Who am I in less than 100 words?
I teach philosophy, write literary nonfiction, and live on the Oregon coast with my dogs, Fritz and Lou Salomé. My essays have appeared in The Missouri Review, The Smart Set, SLAB literary journal, Philosophy Now, and elsewhere. I went to Columbia for undergrad and lived in New York City for ten years. I have a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Of all the David Frosts, I am the David Frostiest.
Still want more from me?
Find additional selected writings here on Substack.
Find links to the original venues of selected essays: linktr.ee/davidfrost.
My homepage: davidjfrost.com.
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Share my Missouri Review essay
Thanks again for reading my free will essay in The Missouri Review.
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