I enjoyed Martin Fridson‘s book of that title — with the subtitle Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth. Fridson’s method is to study those who’ve become billionaires to isolate common traits and actions. Ross Perot, Bill Gates, Sam Walton, H. L. Hunt, Warren Buffett, John D. Rockefeller, Wayne Huizenga, and others get careful (and […]
*How to Be a Billionaire* Read More »
Carrying on the fun Renaissance debate about which art form is the best. Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) was a goldsmith, sculptor, revenge-killer, likely a rapist, and party animal. Check out his Autobiography for all the energetic and sordid true-confessions details. Cellini did the bronze Perseus with the Head of Medusa, now in the Loggia dei Lanzi
Is sculpture the best art form? Read More »
Why some cultures become great explorers and others stay home: the role of metaphysics. “And as for trying to sail down the west African coast, everyone knew that as soon as you passed the Canary Islands you would be in the Mare Tenebroso, the Sea of Darkness: ‘In the medieval imagination [writes Peter Forbath], this
The dangers of exploration — medieval version Read More »
In the Crito, Socrates is in prison awaiting execution for impiety and corrupting the youth. His impiety was judged to be a matter of questioning and possibly disbelieving the traditional gods, and his corrupting the youth was a matter of his teaching them to do the same. (See Apology.) Crito arrives at the prison, having
Socrates’ two bad arguments for not escaping Read More »
“Black people will never gain full equality in this country.” Critical Race Theory is based in part upon a pessimistic, anti-progress view of race relations. Derrick Bell, one of CRT’s founders, thus urged a rejection of Martin Luther King’s “’We Have a Dream’ mentality”, to be replaced with a strategy “to harass white folks.” Here
Derrick Bell | “Racial Realism” | Stephen Hicks’s *Philosophers, Explained* series: Read More »
Following up on a series of posts about Michelangelo, Beethoven, and Liszt. From Frederic V. Grunfeld’s very good Rodin: A Biography, the answer in the case of August Rodin is education and self education. Rodin was born into a French culture in which the large majority of the population was illiterate or semi-literate. The fact
How great artists become great: Rodin Read More »
The allegory is a full philosophical illustration of a dualistic metaphysics, a “purified” cognitive theory, a pessimistic assessment of (most) humans’ ambitions, and a justification of compulsion in education and politics. The full series:
“Tell something to children, tell them the whole thing right to the end, and they’ll still ask: Then what? What comes next?”
“Children are the only bold philosophers. And bold philosophers will always be children.”
Zamyatin: Children as bold philosophers Read More »