[My annual re-posting for this season’s festivities.] We all know the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge. Or do we? Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol has generated an astonishing variety of interpretations, and as with most rich tales the interpretations often tell us as much about the interpreter as the original story. The legend of Robin Hood […]
Ebenezer Scrooge as an Aristotelian Hero Read More »
“It is not as easy as you imagine to be a pure egoist, and none such have ever succeeded. The apparent egoism of great nations and of great men is the inevitable sternness with which anyone who has his life fixed on some undertaking must bear himself. When we are really going to do something
Ortega y Gasset on egoism and dedication to purpose Read More »
Self-esteem is 90% of the battle.
Sexism or Racism? The Best Quick Responses Read More »
I wrote this brief entry on “Self-interest in Ayn Rand”, contrasting her view to the strong nativist e.g., Christianity, Freud) and strong tabula rasa (e.g., Skinner, Foucault) positions. Source: Ruth Hagengruber and Mary Ellen Waithe, editors, The Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts by Women Philosophers, Paderborn University, Germany, 2018.
Rand in *The Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts* by Women Philosophers Read More »
My two-minute advice to passionate young activists: “You’re a younger person, and things matter to you … but keep an open mind to the possibility that you have received only a partial education — one side of a set of arguments from some very clever people.” “Your life is important, and if you let yourself
My advice to young Social Justice Warriors Read More »
From Jacob Burckhardt’s great The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860): In the Middle Ages, “Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation — only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the state
Individualism, and why I love the Renaissance Read More »
In 1957 — the decade during which the first generation of postmodern thinkers was arising — philosopher Brian Medlin claimed: “It is now pretty generally accepted by professional philosophers that ultimate ethical principles must be arbitrary.” For more on the context of Medlin’s point and its implications for postmodernism, see p. 87 of my Explaining Postmodernism:
Brian Medlin in *Explaining Postmodernism* Read More »
My “On Natural Morality and Religious Amoralism” is now republished at Britain’s Church and State site: “… religious belief is often autobiographical. That is, all religions have many messages and practices — some peaceful, some violent, and so on — and individuals choose among them to put together a personal religion that reflects the morality
“On Natural Morality and Religious Amoralism” [CHURCH and STATE] Read More »