[First published at EveryJoe.com.] Full disclosure at the outset: I’m a philosopher, and this new series of columns on The Good Life will often be about human nature, knowledge, the meaning of life, and of course politics. So let me start by indicating some of my colleagues’ opinions about politics. A favorite party game for […]
Are Philosophers Stupid about Politics? [The Good Life] Read More »
[Re-pinning 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 is a
Will the real Scrooge please stand up? Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “Universities are political places, but there’s good politics and bad. “First point: The protesting students are neither “snowflakes” who can’t take the heat nor “delicate flowers” whose feelings have been bruised. University students have seen movie violence, broken up with boyfriends and girlfriends, read ugly things on
Campus Power Politics — It’s Calculated Strategy [new The Good Life column] Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “Defeating an enemy such as politicized Islam is a multi-front battle — police, military, diplomatic, cultural and philosophical. “Any fight is triggered by short-term, local disagreements. But long-term, generalized conflicts are always about abstract principles in collision. As with neo-Nazis, Communist revolutionaries, violent environmentalists, bomb-the-government anarchists and
How to Tame Religious Terrorists [new The Good Life column] Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “I am quite the international trader, it turns out. “Earlier today I put on my made-in-Argentina jacket and my new made-in-India shoes and got into my made-in-Japan truck. I stopped for gas at a British petroleum station and chatted with its owner, a guy from Mexico. To
Free Trade Makes You a Better Person [new The Good Life column] Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “A new generation of sex robots is upon us, and the joking has begun. “I don’t need one, says a wife, since my husband is already robotic in bed. Ha ha. “Sure, a husband replies, but you should see my wife in inaction. (No thanks, I think to
Sex with Robots? The Ethics [new The Good Life column] Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “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
Uber, Cuba, and Freedoms Small and Large [new The Good Life column] Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “Many people complain about how education has become so expensive. Mostly, they are wrong. “Schooling has become more expensive, but consider the cost of the following awesome education resources: Khan Academy for learning math: Free. Louvre Online for experiencing and studying art history: Free. Google Translate for
Is Education Really Too Expensive? [new The Good Life column] Read More »