Jean-Jacques Rousseau said: “Considering the awful disorders printing has already caused in Europe, and judging the future by the progress that this evil makes day by day, one can easily predict that sovereigns will not delay in taking as many pains to banish this terrible art from their States as they once took to establish […]
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on censorship [from Explaining Postmodernism] Read More »
We’re posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the eleventh: OC11: Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? “Is a free and open society more susceptible to the dangers of envy? It’s an interesting question because most often the envy charge is used against socialism, or any kind of outcome-egalitarian
Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? [Open College transcript] Read More »
A new episode of my podcast series, produced by Possibly Correct out of Toronto. Audio: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics: Envy-charge against socialism // Envy-charge against liberal capitalism // Rousseau and Rawls on how to combat envy // So: Is envy worse or better in a free society? // Envy as a worse anti-social problem in earlier societies //
Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? [Open College series] Read More »
Jean-Jacques Rousseau claimed: “Reason is what engenders egocentrism and reflection strengthens it. Reason is what turns man in upon himself. Reason is what separates him from all that troubles him and afflicts him. Philosophy is what isolates him and what moves him to say in secret, at the sight of a suffering man, ‘Perish if
Rousseau contra reason in *Explaining Postmodernism* Read More »
Counter-Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau claimed that in moral society, one “coalesces with all, in this each of us puts in common his person and his whole power under the supreme direction of society’s leaders.” And: A “citizen should render to the state all the services he can as soon as the sovereign demands them.” Further:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau said: “While the state can compel no one to believe it can banish not for impiety, but as an antisocial being, incapable of truly loving the laws and justice, and of sacrificing, if needed, his life to his duty. If, after having publicly recognized these dogmas, a person acts as if he does
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on compulsory religious behavior [from Explaining Postmodernism] Read More »
Interview conducted at Rockford University by Stephen Hicks and sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Hicks: Our guest today is Professor Nicholas Capaldi, who is the Legendre-Soulé Professor of Business Ethics at Loyola University in New Orleans. Professor Capaldi was here lecturing on business ethics. You framed your discussion on business ethics in
Video Interview with Professor Nicholas Capaldi — Transcript Read More »
A fascinating article by a Polish philosopher, Professor Piotr Kostyło of the University of Casimir the Great. (Courtesy of the publisher, here is a PDF of Kostyło’s article.) Kostyło notes that this generation of postmodern thinkers seems to have turned against state-provided welfare programs. The usual left-right debate over welfare is between those who argue
Kostyło on postmodern dialectic of social care Read More »