Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011
Christopher Hitchens has died. Here is a brief profile at Vanity Fair. Here his is at his best in this rousing, witty, and impassioned defense of free speech:
Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 Read More »
Philosophy
Subprime mortgage crisis — history flowchart
Here is a simplified flowchart, developed for my business ethics courses, reflecting my understanding of subprime mortgages’ contribution to the crisis. Let me emphasize that this is only about the subprime contribution of the overall crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac enabled much spillover into non-subprime mortgage sectors, government-set capital requirements and other regulations enabled
Subprime mortgage crisis — history flowchart Read More »
Seminar: Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy
One of my talks at Francisco Marroquín University was on making sense of our mixed economy–an unwieldy combination of market and socialist elements. The 28-minute talk integrates themes from my intellectual heroes–Smith, Mill, Mises, Hayek, Rand, Popper, Friedman, Buchanan, and Tullock–and connects market economics, politics, ethics, history, and public choice to explaining our semi-coherent mixed
Seminar: Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy Read More »
Explaining Postmodernism 2nd and 9th at Amazon Kindle
At Amazon’s Kindle books section, my Explaining Postmodernism holds two of the top ten places for books on postmodernism. The first edition is second, and the expanded edition is ninth [update: now seventh]. They are neck-and-neck with The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism and The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism, two traditionally strong-selling series. Also: Both editions
Explaining Postmodernism 2nd and 9th at Amazon Kindle Read More »
Aristotle’s Politics — reading group
“The basis of a democratic state is liberty.” “He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.” The final meeting of this semester’s reading group on Aristotle’s Politics will be on Friday, December 2, 3 p.m., at
Aristotle’s Politics — reading group Read More »
UFM interview on business ethics
I was video-interviewed by Luis Figueroa at Francisco Marroquín University on the topic of business ethics. In the twelve-minute discussion, I respond to the following questions: * What do you think of “corporate social responsibility”? * Why do you believe business ethics should begin with entrepreneurship? * Are there differences between ethics in family and
UFM interview on business ethics Read More »
Report on my visit to UFM, Guatemala
… is online here at Francisco Marroquín University’s site. While at UFM, I visited the rare book library and got to hold an original copy of Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie. Awesome.
Report on my visit to UFM, Guatemala Read More »
20 years ago this month
I finished my Ph.D. dissertation. Tempus fugit. Looking back, I’m happy with the content, though the writing style is high academese. (As they say, dissertations are written for committees not human beings.)
20 years ago this month Read More »