Refreshing these two strikingly similar passages from Georg Hegel and Søren Kierkegaard, philosophers I generally think of as stylistically opposed. At issue are two key questions:1. What is the origin of the universe?2. What is the self? Hegel on the beginning of the universe: “So far, there is nothing: something is to become. The beginning […]
Philosophical style: Hegel and Kierkegaard Read More »
Current infant mortality rates are about half of one percent, and it is awful for parents who lose a child. But in the 1700s, before the achievements of the Enlightenment were widespread, infant mortality rates were over 50%. I came across this in Robert K. Massie’s Catherine the Great: Peter the Great (1682-1725) and his
More appalling infant mortality numbers, then and now Read More »
Foucault’s response to an interview question: “Heidegger has always been for me the essential philosopher. I started by reading Hegel, then Marx, and I began to read Heidegger in 1951 or 1952; then in 1952 or 1953, I no longer remember, I read Nietzsche. I still have the notes I took while reading Heidegger –
Is Foucault a Neo-Marxist? Heidegger as the “essential” philosopher Read More »
Reprising this charming anecdote about his commitment to music, as reported by cellist Yulian Poplavsky, who knew Tchaikovsky at the time: The event was a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Spanish Capriccio, which was to be conducted by the composer himself in a concert for the Russian Musical Society. The great Tchaikovsky was in attendance for the
Tchaikovsky’s musical magnanimity Read More »
A good example in The Wall Street Journal, reporting on a study published in Lancet: Climate Change Saves More Lives Than You’d ThinkEight times as many people die from cold as heat, and the fix for both is access to cheap fuel.
Cost-benefit thinking and climate change Read More »
Experienced consultant John Davis on how to have productive discussions. A snippet: * Stick to the subject.* Don’t interrupt.* One person talking at a time.* No ad hominem.* No name calling.* Eliminate gutter talk* Avoid logical fallacies.* Know the underlying premises of your positions.* Identify the underlying premises of the others’ positions.* Argue from basic
How to have a successful discussion [from John’s Views for a Better World] Read More »
On the priority of character: “Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the State” (Apology, 30b). On the dangers of democracy: “No man on earth who conscientiously opposes you or any other organized democracy, and flatly prevents a great many wrongs and illegalities
In class: Socrates in Plato’s *Apology* Read More »
My Liberalism: Pro and Con has been translated into Spanish by Fermin Elizalde. We will be serially publishing here each part prior to the publication of the book as a whole. Find the English version here: Amazon. From the blurb for the English edition: In this primer, we take up the best arguments for and
Liberalism: Pro & Con* en Español coming soon Read More »
Background: Here’s a good summary of the Magness/Makovi paper on the influence of politics on Marx’s reputation. Aside from the cheap-shot responses by many of those outraged by the paper, there’s an intriguing philosophical inversion at work among the Outraged. Marx himself argued that the world develops with “iron necessity” in a strict causal priority:
The Outraged versus Magness and Makovi: Un-Marxist Marxists Read More »
In my Introduction to Philosophy course we read Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents. In Chapter 5, Freud makes the following strong claim about human nature: “Men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creatures among
Freud and original sin Read More »