In June I participated in a discussion on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “The Current” radio program, which according to its website is “Canada’s Most Listened-to Radio Program.” The topic was whether power corrupts. The journalistic context included the recent FIFA scandal, scandals in the Canadian Senate, and the ongoing scandals in politics, business, and so on around the world.
CBC discussion of corruption and power — audio Read More »
[In July 2015 I gave a talk at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on “The Next Revolution in Art.” The text of my talk follows.] Why art matters to us Art is a perennial human desire. We need and hunger for stories, images, and sounds that are unique, beautiful, self-affirming, and/or profound. We love to
The Next Revolution in Art — my lecture in Hong Kong Read More »
In my Introduction to Philosophy course this week we are reading and discussing The Fountainhead, a great novel on the themes of independence and integrity. In Part One, Rand’s primary purpose is to contrast the characters Howard Roark and Peter Keating. Here is a table (click to enlarge) summarizing the main events in each young
The Fountainhead (Introduction to Philosophy this week) Read More »
Last week I gave a talk at Fundación para la Responsabilidad Intelectual’s first North American event in Miami. FRI posted some nice photos from the conference at their Facebook page here.
Photos from talk in Miami Read More »
I gave a talk in June at a conference sponsored by Fundación para la Responsabilidad Intelectual (FRI), Junior Achievement Argentina, and the John Templeton Foundation. When I was in Buenos Aires, FRI also did three short videos of me addressing questions. Here is a 12-minute video of my response to “How Do You Explain the Great Enrichment of
For use in my courses, additions to my Texts in Philosophy page. All files are PDFs. Antony Flew, R. M. Hare, and Basil Mitchell, “Three Accounts of What Faith Is,” from “Theology & Falsification: A Symposium” (1971). St. Augustine, on “Righteous Persecution” (c. 397-418 CE). HTML. David Hume, “Moral Distinctions Not Derived from Reason”, A
Texts in Philosophy — late 2015 additions Read More »
[This week in my Introduction to Philosophy course, we are reading Crito and discussing whether Socrates should escape or accept his death sentence. Here is a revisiting of an earlier post.] Socrates’ two bad arguments for not escaping In the Crito, Socrates is in prison awaiting execution for impiety and corrupting the youth. His impiety
Socrates in jail — escape or not? Read More »
More on philosophers’ mind-numbingly long sentences. My initial post with my top candidates is here. Kazuma Kitamura sends in a new contender — a 175 word plea from Chapter One of John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women: “If the authority of men over women, when first established, had been the result of a conscientious
Updating the Philosophy’s Longest Sentences competition Read More »