A new episode of my podcast series, produced by Possibly Correct out of Toronto. Conservative nationalist Yoram Hazony makes eight claims about the Enlightenment. One is mostly true, and seven are badly false or are grains of truth badly exaggerated. Audio: Youtube. Soundcloud. Transcription: Will be available soon. Sources: Yoram Hazony, “What Was the Enlightenment?” Prager […]
Hazony Attacks the Enlightenment [Open College] Read More »
“Basic food items in America have become almost eight times cheaper relative to unskilled labor over the last 100 years.”
Cost of a Bible in 1455 compared to today Read More »
We experienced record-setting cold temperatures. I juxtapose two images from the same day to capture the range of experience: a satellite shot of the Great Lakes region and an aisle at my local grocery store (click on both to enlarge): Death-dealing cold outside, but warmth and fresh food inside.
Last Week’s Deep Cold: Two Images Read More »
During a fun (and long) question-and-answer session after a lecture at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania — some of us were still going strong after three hours — I was asked my view on the origins of the Enlightenment. The first questioner noted that Jordan Peterson had spoken at Lafayette the year before and had argued
A difference with Jordan Peterson on Enlightenment foundations Read More »
Episode 4 in my Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks podcast series. Audio links: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics: Our contemporary pessimists and cynics // Gray, Rorty, and Foucault // The Enlightenment and its promises // How to assess the Enlightenment era // Data // Postmodernism // Real concerns and trade-offs versus pessimism Transcription: Forthcoming Sources: Michel
“The Dim Ruins of the Enlightenment” [Open College series] Read More »
Our discussion is embedded below or at YouTube. Topics discussed: 1:00: The various uses of “postmodern” 3:30: The epistemology of reason in early modern philosophy 4:30: Pomo as a skepticism about reason by mid-1900s 5:00: Individualism in early modern philosophy 7:00: Pomo as a reaction to individualism 7:30: Social-psychological-linguistic determinisms of mid-1900s 10:10: Perception and
Tyler Ashby discussion: Pomo, Perception, and Reason Read More »
Você pode não se considerar rico. Deixe-me provar que você é. Em 1836, o homem mais rico do mundo era Nathan Rothschild. Ele tinha 58 anos de idade e, de acordo com um check-up médico no início daquele ano, com boa saúde para um homem na sua idade. O pai de Nathan iniciou um banco
A saúde e o homem mais rico do mundo Read More »
A fascinating article by a Polish philosopher, Professor Piotr Kostyło of the University of Casimir the Great. (Courtesy of the publisher, here is a PDF of Kostyło’s article.) Kostyło notes that this generation of postmodern thinkers seems to have turned against state-provided welfare programs. The usual left-right debate over welfare is between those who argue
Kostyło on postmodern dialectic of social care Read More »