Philosophy of History

PIGS, Catholicism, and Protestantism

I am neither Catholic nor Protestant, so I do not have a dog in that fight but rather a cultural history question about the financially bankrupt PIGS or PIIGS countries in Europe. With the exception of Ireland, all are in southern Europe. Including Ireland, all of them are traditionally Catholic [except Greece, which is mostly

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APEE update — Deirdre McCloskey

Why did the modern economic revolution in production and trade first happen in north-western Europe? At the APEE conference, Deirdre McCloskey delivered a plenary address based on her new book, Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World. Her argument is that neither material resources nor technology nor capital accumulation nor geographical factors drove

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The book version of Nietzsche and the Nazis

… is forthcoming in August and is now available for pre-order at Amazon. It will be published in both hardcover and Kindle formats. The image is a gray-scale version of the cover. The book version is based on the script of the 2006 documentary and is now complete with footnotes, index, bibliography, appendices, and other

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Hindsight and future resolve [Section 40 of Nietzsche and the Nazis]

[This is Section 40 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] Part 8. Conclusion: Nazi and Anti-Nazi Philosophies 40. Hindsight and future resolve We know from historical hindsight that it took a world war to defeat the Nazis. Tens of millions of human beings died in that war. Actual human beings who lived, loved, cried, had dreams—and

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Principled anti-Nazism [Section 41 of Nietzsche and the Nazis]

[This is Section 41 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 41. Principled anti-Nazism Philosophically and politically, the Nazis stood for five major principles: They stood for collectivism, for instinct and passion, for war and conflict, for authoritarianism, and for socialism. National Socialist Principles: Collectivism Instinct, passion, “blood” War and zero-sum conflict Authoritarianism Socialism That means we

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Instinct, passion, and anti-reason

[This is Section 36 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 36. Instinct, passion, and anti-reason Hitler was fond of saying, in private, “What luck that men do not think.” Another significant point of agreement exists between Nietzsche and the Nazis: Both agree that the great conflicts will not be solved rationally, through the processes of discussion,

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