Most people who have heard of Hobbes, it seems to me, know him only as an advocate of monarchy. They probably also know his famous phrase describing life without government: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Also, they’ve probably made the connection between Hobbes the philosopher and Hobbes the stuffed tiger (the connection being that both are cynical about human [...]
Either Matt Yglesias is rehashing points that don’t need to be rehashed, or the “national conversation” part of health care reform failed miserably: After all, it seems to me that one of the big drivers of lack of productivity in the health care sector is the paucity of innovations that take the form of “not quite as good, but way [...]
Turns out McChrystal’s is not the only high-profile resignation this week. The Afghanistan general’s departure is notable for the shocking indiscretion of McChrystal and his staff, and is clearly a tremendous shake-up for the military and political worlds. Dave Weigel’s resignation from the Washington Post doesn’t mean that much to those outside of the blogging world, but it is certainly [...]
Racial diversity is a fascinating subject to me, especially that now (I think) the culture wars of the 90s have simmered down somewhat, and we may be able to discuss the issue with a degree of sanity. If only we could develop that capacity with regard to gender, or sexual orientation… In any case, Sam Barr over at HPRgument has [...]
It may be that, at long last, the right wing has begun to take aim at itself, find a way to separate the wheat from the chaff, and attempt to harness productively the tremendous surge in anger and resentment that has propelled it these past two years. (Note: I realize that the news du jour is Stanley McChrystal. But he [...]
New Ordinary Gentleman Lisa Kramer (“gentleman” now being neuter, thankfully) has some advice about the home and work. After pointing out to the Front Porcher crowd that the ideal of self-sufficiency and withdrawal from corporate/consumer culture isn’t realistic for most of us – that we have to work to make a living – she says the following: Work as a [...]
Opinions I enjoyed reading about the real world, outside the philosophick aether: What if Political Scientists Covered the News? The Monkey Cage links approvingly (and here’s a good example of exactly what they’re talking about). The short version of this, with respect to the BP spill, at xkcd. Which, incidentally, is why I haven’t been following the BP story too [...]
I’ve finished the first chapter of my summer reading project. I have read Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, along with several commentary essays on Descartes and on the Meditations particularly (from the Cambridge Companion to Descartes). He wrote widely about all manner of things, from geometry to physics to the existence of God. Fortunately, the Meditations provide a concentrated dose [...]
OK, so this has nothing to do with Descartes’ Meditations. But while I was pondering the implications of the famous “I think, therefore I am,” I came upon this blurb at Inside Higher Ed, alerting me to this article on a study of drunk driving. As you know if you’ve chanced to talk with me on the subject at all, [...]
For those of you who are interested, I thought I would give you an outline of what I’m doing with my summer and what my blogging is going to look like. In lacrosse, they say, “Aim small, miss small” – that is, if you set a difficult goal, falling just short won’t be so bad. I’m going to do something [...]
Are you following the Supreme Court cases on same-sex marriage?
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