On this day, I am thankful in a way that history puts in perspective. Three quotations: From William Manchester, A World Lit Only By Fire, on life in medieval Europe: “Because most peasants lived and died without leaving their birthplace, there was seldom need for any tag beyond One-Eye, or Roussie (Redhead), or Bionda (Blondie), […]
First, a healthy way to think about trade: Canada produces more and better maple syrup and high quality copper than the USA does. Yet the USA’s California wines are better than Canadian wines and the USA produces more hickory lumber than Canada does. So, Americans get more of their maple syrup and copper from Canada
Tariffs as tit-for-tat revenge Read More »
This documents a huge shift in one generation. HERI is the Higher Education Research Institute. It asks faculty what their top educational goals are. Candidates: Individual self-development, becoming a well-rounded person, learning to think and judge for oneself, career preparation, becoming a social-change agent, and so on. In 1990, only about 20% of faculty said
In this eight-lecture course, Professor Stephen Hicks guides us through the Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment, including philosophers Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, Voltaire, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and Friedrich Nietzsche. For each, Dr. Hicks establishes the philosopher’s context, presents his or her most influential arguments,
MODERN PHILOSOPHY course syllabus [Peterson Academy] Read More »
(0:39) Intro (2:19) Lecturing for Peterson Academy (two course published, three in post-postproduction) (5:16) The giants in philosophy who shook the earth — learn why (10:54) The practical case for philosophy (14:24) Narrative, weighting facts, and how various philosophies reconcile perception versus reality (25:24) Epistemology (the theory of knowledge), how you know that you really
Related: My Explaining Postmodernism page, with links to the various English editions and foreign translations. Related: My Nietzsche and the Nazis page with links to the various English editions and foreign translations.
My INTELLECTUAL HISTORY page Read More »
2024 estimates. Worth comparing the demographics of other Middle Eastern nations and groups.
Israel: demographics Read More »
In my Intro. course, we read Descartes’ Meditations, in part using it to introduce the complicated and important set of issues known as the mind-body problem. The most ancient account of the mind-body relation is dualism, the view that the mind and the body are two different types of stuff that are temporarily joined. The
Mind-body dualism or physicalism? [Introduction to Philosophy] Read More »