O café chegou à Europa em 1529; a maioria dos historiadores data o início da história moderna nos anos 1500. Coincidência? Enquanto escrevo, já estou no meu segundo copo. O efeito estimulante da cafeína me manterá acordado até o meio dia, quando eu beberei mais um. Volte aos maus e velhos tempos — Antes do […]
Deveríamos agradecer o café pela civilização moderna? Read More »
Click on images to enlarge.
Pairing: Van Gogh’s and Wyeth’s boots Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: ““People are scum.” “Mankind is a moral wasteland.” “I’m ashamed to be human.” “Whenever cynics express themselves, I’m tempted to retort that philosophy is autobiography and they should put their claims in the first-person: “I am scum.” “I am a moral wasteland.” “I’m ashamed to be me.” “A colleague once took me up
Why Humans are Born Fit for Freedom (Part I) [new The Good Life column] Read More »
My article, “The Best Work of the Best Minds,” is available in German translation. The text is below, and here is a PDF version. Here also is a Kindle version of the original English article. * * * Die höchsten Leistungen der besten Verstände Stephen R. C. Hicks Übersetzung von Anja Hartleb-Parson Ich sitze am
German translation of “The Best Work of the Best Minds” Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “An ancient myth tells of a poor young man who found a magical ring. The young man’s name was Gyges. He was a shepherd, responsible for tending his village’s sheep as they grazed in the summer meadows away in the hills. His job was lonely, poorly paid,
Are We Too Wicked for Freedom? [new The Good Life column] Read More »
Which philosopher writes the most mind-numbingly long sentences? Ken Brown sends in a new contender — a 179 word-marathon from John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism: “But inasmuch as the cultivation in ourselves of a sensitive feeling on the subject of veracity, is one of the most useful, and the enfeeblement of that feeling one of the
New addition in Philosophy’s Longest Sentences competition Read More »
Em colunas anteriores, tratamos sobre sexo e dinheiro. Agora, vamos falar de poder. Assim como o sexo e o dinheiro — e a maioria das coisas importantes da vida — muitas bobagens são ditas sobre o poder. Talvez a principal de todas elas seja a frase frequentemente citada “o poder corrompe, e o poder absoluto corrompe absolutamente”. Através de
O poder não corrompe — o caráter é o que realmente importa Read More »
And: “Should I Marry You?” Answers From the Philosophers. At The Good Life:
Puritan Valentine’s Day thoughts Read More »