I guest-hosted The Atlas Society Asks program and interviewed classicist Victor Davis Hanson for 30-minutes on what we moderns can learn from the classics about human nature and war. Some of the questions we covered: Is a lesson of history that freer societies prevail over authoritarian ones? E.g., how the Greeks were able to defeat […]
Victor Davis Hanson interview: war and foreign policy Read More »
Two documents. Which is real? And now the original: [Lenin quotation source.] Raw text versions follow: 1. Press Release: People of Color and Gender Equality Working Group For our racist and sexist society, freedom of speech means freedom for whites and males to control the media, a practice which in all countries, including even the
Press Release: People of Color and Gender Equality Working Group Read More »
Waterfall is a guided series of courses for everyone interested in issues upon which Objectivism has something distinctive and important to say. The second course: Socialism. Examine the aspirations, arguments, strategies, and disasters of socialist theory and practice—as well as explore the strongest criticisms of socialism. Authors include Ayn Rand, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Robert
Professor Kors’s classic lecture: “Socialism’s Legacy” [Waterfall] Read More »
University of Maryland historian Holly Brewer’s very good overview of Locke’s role in English slavery in the mid-1600s and his philosophical opposition as developed by the 1680s: “Slavery-entangled philosophy.” John Locke took part in administering the slave-owning colonies. Does that make him, and liberalism itself, hypocritical? Related: My other posts on Locke. “The Stain of
I was a guest, along with the excellent Marian Tupy, on the TASA show hosted by Jennifer Grossman. We discuss the origins of Cato’s Human Progress project, how we entered the Age of Abundance, social media and the patience needed to deal with online brutalism, the many positive social indicators of modernity, whether optimism vs.
Marian Tupy (Cato), Jennifer Grossman (TAS), and I on human progress Read More »
In preparation for my Saturday livestream lecture at thinkspot (Slavery: Who Deserves *Credit* for Ending It), here’s a sobering-but-fascinating three-minute animated video of where the slaves went. URL: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_history_of_american_slavery/2015/06/animated_interactive_of_the_history_of_the_atlantic_slave_trade.html Information about Saturday: The horrors of slavery get much deserved attention, and slavery’s legacy remains as an important lesson — as well as a contentious feeder
Where the Slaves Went — transatlantic animation Read More »
A very good video lecture by TIK introducing the philosophy of history: * How did history develop as a discipline? * What are historical facts? What does truth mean for historians? * Can history be objective? * Is history more an art or a science? * What explains the contemporary attacks on history by postmodern
“History Theory: What is History? No seriously, what is it?” Read More »
A new episode of my podcast series, produced by Possibly Correct out of Toronto. Conservative nationalist Yoram Hazony makes eight claims about the Enlightenment. One is mostly true, and seven are badly false or are grains of truth badly exaggerated. Audio: Youtube. Soundcloud. Transcription: Will be available soon. Sources: Yoram Hazony, “What Was the Enlightenment?” Prager
Hazony Attacks the Enlightenment [Open College] Read More »