From philosopher Miguel de Unamuno’s The Tragic Sense of Life, which I re-read for the first time since my undergraduate days. Note these arresting lines: “A human soul is worth all the universe, someone — I know not whom — has said and said magnificently. A human soul, mind you! Not a human life. Not […]
Does religion make you more warlike? Unamuno on war and the soul Read More »
Khayyâm was a Persian astronomer-poet and free-thinker. From his Rubáiyát: And do you think that unto such as youA maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crewGod gave a secret, and denied it me?Well, well—what matters it? Believe that, too! More on Khayyâm here. Related: My article No Reformation for Islam, Please, on why Islam needs reforming but not
Poet Omar Khayyâm (1048–1131) on the Islamists of his era Read More »
Some fascinating glimpses of Franz Liszt, the virtuoso pianist and composer. Biographer Alan Walker writes:
More on how great artists become great: Liszt Read More »
Bulletin: Sex and Economics — A Modest Proposal Fellow citizens: Our nation’s sex life is in peril. Surveys show widespread sexual discontent. Market failure is everywhere. Many males complain of not getting enough sex and many females object to constant male looks and advances. Other males are dissatisfied with the options available in their local
From the Office of the Reproducer-General Read More »
“Knowledge is Power.” Lecture One: The Birth of the Modern. Francis Bacon Themes: What is the Modern? 1500: Art. Science. Exploration. Religion. Economy. Politics. Individualism of independent thinking, Individualism of identity, and Individualism of worth. Galileo. Milton. Descartes. Empiricism. Experimentalism. Text: Bacon: The Great Instauration, esp. Novum Organon. About the Instructor Stephen R. C. Hicks,
The satirist, poet, and radical Heinrich Heine described poet Alfred de Musset as “a young man with a great future behind him.” Ouch. Musset never forgave him. Heine is known to have fought in at least ten duels in his life. One wonders why. Heine also said this of Kant, describing his clockwork walks along
The Department of Great Putdowns: Heine on de Musset and Kant Read More »
I like this from Jeffrey Davis: “Creativity is not about waiting for the muse. Creativity is about showing up and shaping time for the muse.”[1] Reminds me of this exchange between a St. Petersburg journalist and Tchaikovsky about his work habits: T: “Once I have settled in Petersburg, I shall continue to work, as before,
Creativity and the self-directed muse Read More »
“Science: Conjectures and Refutations,” from Popper’s Conjectures and Refutations (1962). Key questions: Are Marxism and Freudianism pseudo-sciences like astrology and alchemy? What makes a theory genuinely scientific? Who are the great philosophers and what are their key ideas? From the beginning of philosophy in Greek myths to the influential thinkers of our own time, in
Karl Popper | Science v. Pseudo-science | Philosophers, Explained | Stephen Hicks. Read More »