In the Renaissance, there was a lively debate among artists and critics over which art form was the best. Cases were made for and against painting, sculpture, poetry, and music. To my mind, the debate is philosophically silly, but it is a fun and instructive exercise to compare the strengths and limitations of each art […]
The best art form — architecture version Read More »
My Rockford College philosophy colleague has a new article out in Reason Papers, “Harry Potter and Humanity: Choices, Love, and Death” [pdf]. Here is the entire Volume 34 Reason Papers issue. Professor Klein is also co-editor of the anthology Harry Potter and Philosophy, part of Open Court’s popular culture and philosophy series.
Shawn Klein on Harry Potter Read More »
I’ll be speaking at The Atlas Society’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. This year’s conference theme is “Either-Or: Atlas Shrugged and the Future of Individualism.” The abstract for my talk: Objectivism’s ethical philosophy is highly entrepreneurial, emphasizing initiative, self-responsibility, and self-creation. Consequently, Objectivism’s political philosophy is entrepreneurship-friendly, emphasizing the protection of individual rights necessary for
My TAS talk on “Public Policy, Objectivism, and Entrepreneurship” Read More »
Every original thinker attracts those who are eager to learn and build upon the new discoveries — and “true believers” who want to follow mechanically and turn the new system into a museum piece. Maria Montessori’s outstanding educational philosophy is designed for independence, creativity, and freedom. Many Montessorians are applying and developing her system in
Geniuses and their followers, Montessori version Read More »
I spotted this in a storefront window yesterday. Gottfried Leibniz’s argument is still packing a punch, three centuries later.
Leibnizians in Harvard, Illinois Read More »
One question on the final exam for my Philosophy of Art course asked students to identify the best or worst theorist of art we studied this semester. We devoted significant time to five major philosophers — Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, and Rand — and discussed a few others along the way more briefly. In deciding
The best (and worst) philosophy of art Read More »
Entrepreneurial Research Science My full interview with physicist R. Paul Drake is now posted at the the CEE site. I met with Dr. Drake in Michigan to discuss the realities of professional science — multi-tasking, grant-writing, travel, and learning from failure — the adequacies and inadequacies of American science education, and the likely future of
Full interview with Paul Drake posted Read More »
Jumping into the debate about “bleeding-heart libertarianism” (Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi, Bryan Caplan and again, David Friedman, David Henderson, and others), which seeks to integrate libertarianism with social justice. “Social justice” is one of those vaguely-specified, usually suspect phrases, defined by one defender of BHL as the position that “the moral justification of our
Bleeding-heart libertarianism? Read More »