*The “turtles all the way down” story has versions featuring other celebrated thinkers as the fall guy, rather than William James. We told our version because we liked James’s beard, and there was a building on campus named for him. The “turtles all the way down” punch line has been referenced in numerous cultural contexts, including a great book with that title by John Green (Dutton Books, 2017). All the versions of the story have a male Philosopher King Whoever being challenged by an absurd old woman, which now seems kind of sexist and ageist. That didn’t particularly register with us then, we adolescent males of our time and place.