Almost 100 years ago, the philosopher was worried: “We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.” Source: Bertrand Russell, “Free Thought and Official Propaganda,” Chapter 12 of Sceptical Essays (1928), p. 136. Russell used examples from America (bad), Japan (bad), and […]
Bertrand Russell: Education versus Free Thought Read More »
Additions to the page include recent publications, a debates section, and a new-to-me criticism of my Explaining Postmodernism by sociology lecturer Matt McManus, who takes issue with my use of a quotation from Lyotard’s Postmodern Fables. (The quotation in question and my take on it can be read here.) Related: Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism
My Wikipedia page updated: debates and a criticism Read More »
Friedrich Nietzsche has a reputation for being an individualist. But note this from his Thus Spoke Zarathustra: “The overman is the sense of the earth … . I love those who sacrifice themselves for the earth, that the earth may some day become the overman’s.” (Z I.P.3). So: Contrary to individualism, your life is not
Was Nietzsche individualist? Zarathustra-overman version Read More »
In Chapter 5 of Postmodern Fables (University of Minnesota Press, 1997), Jean-François Lyotard writes this about the Iraqi dictatorship: “Saddam Hussein is a product of Western departments of state and big companies, just as Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were born of the ‘peace’ imposed on their countries by the victors of the Great War. Saddam
Lyotard channeling Lenin Read More »
Tomorrow I’m leading a live, open seminar on Kant’s views on education. In Britain and America in the 1700s, the most influential philosopher of education was John Locke, with his Some Thoughts Concerning Education. In France, it was Jean-Jacques Rousseau with his Emile. But in the German states, it was Johann Georg Sulzer, with his
Kant and Sulzer on Obedience in Education Read More »
Suppose that Albrecht is a jerk. He comes home to his wife Gertha and proceeds to order her around. He expects her to cater to his desires, and when she does not he admonishes her in cutting tones. Many would say that Albrecht is “selfish” — using “selfish” to mean someone who expects benefits at
Anti-social behavior, “selfish” and “altruist” Read More »
Students at Xavier High School in New York City were assigned to write their favorite authors to persuade them to visit the school. Five wrote to Kurt Vonnegut, author of Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, and other novels. Vonnegut was the only author to reply. While he declined to visit the school (for a reason given
Kurt Vonnegut’s letter Read More »
Audience Q&A after this debate between professors John Quiggin and Stephen Hicks. * Did Burke and the Right generate postmodernism? * Is Trump a postmodernist? * Was John Stuart Mill a socialist? * What is libertarianism? * Fake news—new or more of the same? * Is climate-change denialism postmodern? * Is “That offends me” un-Australian?
Is Postmodernism Right-Wing? Audience Q&A Read More »