Reposting this question: In this post-colonial era, what explains the dramatically different levels of prosperity in nations after they become independent of their colonizing powers? Why, for example, has the prosperity of North America been consistently higher than that of Central and South America? Both are rich in natural resources, both involve nations started from scratch, […]
Empires of conquest and empires of commerce Read More »
Reposting this from a trip that took me to Texas and Oklahoma. I saw this sign along a highway a little across the OK border. “Steve,” the sign seemed to say to me, “you’re not in Illinois anymore.” So I took a tourist memento picture. It turns out that they are not worried about what weirdos
Dueling billboards, Oklahoma style Read More »
From Jack D. Flam’s Matisse and Picasso: The Story of Their Rivalry and Friendship (2003): ‘Picasso characterized the arbitrariness of representation in his Cubist paintings as resulting from his desire for “a greater plasticity.” Rendering an object as a square or a cube, he said, was not a negation, for “reality was no longer in
Artistic representation: Picasso versus Matisse Read More »
David Hume topped the 2009 PhilPapers survey of most influential and admired philosophers (scroll down to bottom of the page to “Non-living philosophers most identified with”). Aristotle came in second and Kant third. I’ve been thinking much about Nietzsche and Heidegger recently: eleventh and eighteenth, respectively. Overall, the list was still dominated by thinkers in
David Hume’s current influence Read More »
Results from a recent survey of children: Respondents across all countries were worried about climate change (59% were very or extremely worried and 84% were at least moderately worried). More than 50% reported each of the following emotions: sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3/fulltext Much of modern environmentalism strikes me as very Old
Children’s fears and environmental education Read More »
An evocative quotation from philosopher Sidney Hook (1902-1989), from his autobiographical Out of Step. In an earlier post I quoted Hook’s account of his family’s living conditions. Here Hook recalls his authoritarian-style education in American schools circa one century ago: “Although the public schools were religiously attended (children feared the wrath of their parents much
Sidney Hook on public education Read More »
Unexpected news: Explaining Postmodernism wins first place in a university’s edible cake contest. The cake’s maker, who wishes to remain anonymous online, explains: “Mickey, the dialectical apprentice to such gnostic sorcerers as Rousseau, Hegel, and Derrida, is busy deconstructing our cake, leaving destruction and ruin in his wake.” I like that the book side of
*Explaining Postmodernism* wins baking contest Read More »
Today at Jagielloninan University in Krakow, Poland, is a book-launch event for this new volume: Defending the Value of Education as a Public GoodPhilosophical Dialogues on Education and the State, edited by Katarzyna Wrońska (Jagiellonian University, Poland), Julian Stern (Bishop Grosseteste University, England). I contributed an essay. My title and abstract: “Mind-shift for 21st-Century Education:
Chapter: “Mind-shift for 21st-Century Education: Entrepreneurism,” by Stephen Hicks Read More »