Imperialism and colonialism are older than human history, and across the centuries virtually every culture in every part of the world practiced it. Until the Enlightenment of the 1700s. At which point a few voices began arguing that we should only trade with people rather than conquer them and take their stuff — and that […]
Why liberal capitalism opposed imperialism and colonialism Read More »
Wean Yourself By Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi Little by little, wean yourself.This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood,move to an infant drinking milk,to a child on solid food,to a searcher after wisdom,to a hunter of more invisible game. Think how it is to have
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I came across this report of an “experiment at Harvard University’s School of Public Health in 1995. In it, a group of students and faculty were asked to choose between earning $50,000 per year while everyone else earned $25,000 — or earning $100,000 per year while others made $200,000. The researchers stipulated that prices of
Comparing yourself to others —experiment and anecdote Read More »
FedEx is a pioneer in speedy and reliable delivery. For many years its slogan was: When it absolutely, positively, has to get there overnight. I’ve been reading David Freedman’s Corps Business: The 30 Management Principles of the U.S. Marines, and I learned that FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith is a former Marine. Freedman reports
FedEx and the Marines — quip Read More »
Brazil a century ago: “Sarah Bernhardt [the French actress] in 1886 … soon shocked [Brazilian] society with her daring swimsuit and alarmed the city’s inhabitants by entering the water … . At the time, Brazilians had believed a quick dip in the sea had some medical efficacy, but only around dawn before the sun became
Brazilian swimming ethics, then and now Read More »
In an earlier post I asked, Who is the most loathsome philosopher in history? I suggested that Rousseau and Heidegger be considered top candidates. Some more data relevant to Rousseau: He made his common-law wife leave all five of their infants at foundling hospitals, on the grounds that they’d be better off there and that
Rousseau’s five children Read More »
In my Ethics course, we cover the arguments for and against banning pornography. One of our readings is from Wendy McElroy’s Sexual Correctness: The Gender-Feminist Attack on Women. McElroy takes up the gender-feminist arguments against porn and contrasts them with liberal individualist forms of feminism. The following updated* chart of contrasts is a work in
Liberal versus gender feminism: McElroy’s *Sexual Correctness* Read More »
I’m happy to announce that the Estonian translation of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault has been published by Postimees Kirjastus out of Tallinn, Estonia. Here’s the cover: I’ll post the publisher’s link soon. For other editions and translations, please see the Explaining Postmodernism page.
Estonian translation of *Explaining Postmodernism* published Read More »