Via Edward Fox, a quotation from Paul Berman’s (recommended) Terror and Liberalism: “In the years around 1950, writers from several parts of the world set out to produce a new literature of political analysis, different from any political literature of the past, with the goal of describing and analyzing the totalitarian political passions of the […]
Berman: From what ghastly depths come fascism and communism? Read More »
On Thursday, November 17, I’ll be at Campbell University in North Carolina to give a talk at the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business on being the entrepreneur of one’s life. Here’s the talk description: You Are the Entrepreneur of Your Life: Business, Ethics, Politics: How do you educate yourself for jobs that don’t exist yet? Education is
Talk on entrepreneurism at Campbell University, North Carolina Read More »
From this WSJ review of Abigail Carroll’s Three Squares, a book about American eating habits across the centuries, here are two eyebrow-raising excerpts. 1. In 1744, a traveler was invited to eat a meal with a ferryman and his family. The traveler describes it this way in his journal: “They had no cloth upon the
Are you rich enough to own a chair? Colonial American eating habits Read More »
On Wednesday at 5 pm Eastern, Dr. David Kelley and I will discuss the Philadelphia Declaration of the a new 2024 venture, which seeks to mind the common cultural ground among key religious and secular groups. Its four-point mission and value statement is here: The Philadelphia Declaration For Freedom and Responsibility July 13, 2024 Preamble
*What is the Philadelphia Declaration?* — with David Kelley and Stephen Hicks Read More »
Reviving this contest for readers: What is the longest sentence ever written by a philosopher? I mean the kind of sentence that, as you are reading it through — trying to hold the context and decipher the meaning — flows majestically onwards, or meanders along deceptively, with occasional side streams (and parenthetical remarks), until your cerebrum
Current champion in Philosophy’s Longest Sentences contest — Kierkegaard Read More »
Reprising this amusing anecdote from Tchaikovsky, by Anthony Holden. Tchaikovsky was traveling from St. Petersburg to Tiflis “via the scenic route, aboard a steamship down the Volga. Concealing his identity from the other passengers, he agreed one evening to accompany an amateur soprano in a romance by Tchaikovsky, only to be told by the singer
Could Tchaikovsky play Tchaikovsky? Read More »
Rockford made me a very nice early-retirement offer, which I’ve accepted. “Retirement” is an undefined and vaguely alien concept to me. So far it means I am a free agent and think about what the next Big Thing will be. It also means getting more of those almost-done publishing projects out the door. It may
Announcement: Leaving Rockford University Read More »
The Enlightenment of the long 18th century was an era of awesome intellectual and cultural transformation. My Enlightenment Vision flowchart [pdf] is pitched at a high level of abstraction, showing schematically how the philosophical revolution of the 17th century led to the 18th-century revolutions in science, technology, politics, and economics — which in turn led
The Enlightenment Vision — Flowchart Read More »