Philosophy

Engels on communism’s connection to German philosophy

Friedrich Engels arguing that communism is the logical consequence of German philosophy, starting with Kant’s revolution and progressing through Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel: “The Germans are a philosophical nation, and will not, cannot abandon Communism, as soon as it is founded upon sound philosophical principles: chiefly if it is derived as an unavoidable conclusion from

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Activism backlash at Oberlin College will lead to more speech restrictions

Summary: Oberlin College students (and some administrators) behaved badly. The local business they targeted responded with a lawsuit for damages.  The court agrees, ordering Oberlin to pay $11 million. The down-the-road response? Colleges everywhere will take note, and worried number-cruncher administrators will urge further restrictions on campus speech and action. So: (1) Bad ideology on

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Socialism and the surveillance state, Lenin’s 1917 version

Socialism and the surveillance state, Lenin’s 1917 version: “Only socialism will be the beginning of a rapid, genuine, truly mass forward movement, embracing first the majority, and then the whole of the population, in all spheres of public and private life. … [Then] the escape from this popular accounting and control will inevitably become so

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