[Below is the text. Here also is a PDF version.] John Maynard Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire (1926) The disposition towards public affairs, which we conveniently sum up as individualism and laissez-faire, drew its sustenance from many different rivulets of thought and springs of feeling. For more than a hundred years our philosophers ruled us […]
Keynes’s “The End of Laissez-Faire” (text) Read More »
A standard argument for mandatory schooling is that it reduces crime. Behind that argument are claims that formal education civilizes and/or that schooling gets kids off the streets where they otherwise might be. That is to say, in economics-speak, that education has positive externalities beyond whatever other value one already ascribes it. I’m still re-reading
Does schooling reduce crime? Read More »
O tema de uma pesquisa recente entre principais artistas e críticos de arte de nossa geração tratou de quem foi o artista mais influente do século XX. Quem venceu? Se você chutou Pablo Picasso — boa tentativa, mas ele ficou em segundo. Antes de identificarmos o vencedor, vamos refletir sobre a importância do 1º lugar
O artista mais importante do nosso século Read More »
The standard claim is that philosophy begins with Thales. When I teach this to my students, it’s a hard sell, for here are the founding texts in philosophy — ascribed to Thales by Aristotle: “The first principle and basic nature of all things is water.” and “All things are full of gods.” You can imagine
Why Philosophy Begins with Thales Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “German authorities will allow the republication of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, after decades of censorship. “Decent people can argue that the book is too dangerous to be published. But the fact is that Mein Kampf is too dangerous not to be published. “The great fear is that Hitler’s ideas are not dead and that his
Is Republishing Hitler’s Mein Kampf the Correct Decision? [new The Good Life column] Read More »
As spring arrived exactly one century ago in 1915, the world’s leading nations geared up for the second year of The Great War.
World War I casualty numbers and some questions Read More »
A striking quotation about Aristotle’s Poetics and its contemporary relevance. Pixar Animation Studios is one the great technical and financial successes in the movie industry. Early in its development, two individuals who were to be instrumental to that success, John Lasseter and Pete Docter, knew that story-telling and not just techical wizardry was essential to
Aristotle at Pixar Animation Studios Read More »
A interesting and disturbing article by Professor Piotr Kostyło on “School failure and its interpretations” [pdf], published in Kultura Pedagogiczna out of the University of Warsaw. Kostyło is a professor of philosophy of education at the University of Kazimierz Wielki. Kostyło’s analysis is disturbing because it suggests that Poland’s change from communism to liberal democracy
Kostyło on school failure’s independence of political change Read More »