Recently, I met a young man in Miami. Instead of taking a taxi I decided to try Uber for the first time. Rafael (not his real name) showed up a few minutes later. Traffic was bad in rush-hour Miami, and along the way we started chatting. He was a Cuban, I learned, and until recently […]
Uber, Cuba, and Freedoms Small and Large [Good Life series] Read More »
A warlord king went off with his men to attack a neighboring kingdom. While he was away his city was vulnerable — and another warlord saw his chance. When the unprotected city’s inhabitants saw the approaching army, they made hasty defenses, fought vigorously, and were able successfully to beat off the attackers. When their king
Punished for teaching one’s kids Read More »
At TRI, my commentary on the University of Washington shooting, Milo Yiannopoulos, postmodernism, and the alt right begins this way: “A protester was shot at the University of Washington during a clash between rival factions — one faction physically blocking an audience from hearing a speech, the other faction seeking to hear a rabble-rousing orator.
Political protest in a “post-fact era” [Commentary at TRI] Read More »
In Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice by Nikhil Goyal asks: Are America’s schools little more than cinderblock gulags that spawn vicious cliques and bullying, negate creativity and true learning, and squelch curiosity in their inmates, um, students? Goyal is a recent high school graduate (2013), but recalls his
Goyal’s *Schools on Trial* Read More »
Donald Trump’s astonishing election victory was in part a backlash against increasingly corrupt American politics. Transparency International publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking all nations from most to least clean in their political conduct. The United States entered the twenty-first century by falling out of the top ten. Scandinavian nations such as Finland, Denmark, and Sweden
Trump’s Corruption Mandate Read More »
How culture gets made. At the Library of Social Science, a selection of quotations — philosophers, poets, historians, and other intellectual leaders — on German militarism from Kant’s time to World War I. For example, who said this? War itself, if it is carried on with order and with a sacred respect for the rights of
Quotations on militarism in the lead-up to World War I Read More »
After my talk there on “How Ethics Drives the Debate over the USA’s Healthcare Politics and Economics,” I received this letter of appreciation from the program’s head, Dr. Hanna Kostyło. In Polish and in English (click on image to enlarge): A fine memento of an enjoyable event. I learned from Professora Kostyło that the College
Letter from Nicholas Copernicus University College of Medicine Read More »
After my talks at the University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, I received a gift from Professora Ilona Błaszczyk: a book on Seneca on education. Professora Błaszczyk is a scholar of classical thought who has translated Seneca’s work into Polish. A striking feature of the book, though, appears on the title page: a Third
Third Reich stamp in Seneca book Read More »