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Why Is Violent Language Becoming So Normal?0
- Culture
- June 7, 2016
The death a few days ago of Muhammad Ali, an icon of boxing as well as racial equality, reminds me and others of something that you too may have noticed: how violent language is increasingly being used to describe disagreement. One public figure criticizing another is “attacking” or “bashing” the other. When somebody’s reasoning is
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One Reason Conservatives Are Losing?0
- Politics
- June 7, 2016
In November 2012, I attended a conservative State Policy Network (SPN) conference the week after President Obama had won reelection. As you might imagine, the mood among the conservative think-tank attendees was rather somber. In spite of all their efforts over the past four years, the more liberal presidential candidate had defeated the more conservative
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Refugees vs. Immigrants: Let’s Not Conflate the Two 0
- Culture
- June 7, 2016
A couple of months ago, when I first began writing for Intellectual Takeout, I wrote a piece about the difference between arguing and quarreling. I referred to G. K. Chesterton’s quip, concerning his relationship with his brother, that they were always arguing but they never quarreled. Chesterton’s point is that arguing is good, whereas quarreling
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CS Lewis’ Important Critique of ‘Democratic Education’0
- Culture
- June 7, 2016
America’s education system is increasingly “democratic.” It expends tremendous amounts of money and energy on ushering all students toward college and on closing “gaps” between high- and low-performing students. But according to C.S. Lewis, these concerns indicate a wrong understanding of democracy as it applies to education—one that indeed threatens a nation’s survival. In 1944 he wrote the
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The Real Reason Students Should Study Philosophy 0
- Education
- June 6, 2016
Isn’t philosophy supposed to help people live well, not just exercise the mind? That was the ancient view. The evidence is clear that exposure to philosophical questions, ideas, and dialogue at an early age improves academic outcomes generally, and in particular cultivates the skills needed for reasoned dialogue. (Intellectual Takeout has posted several pieces to
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Today’s College Students Aren’t Studying 0
- Education
- June 6, 2016
Most of those in the Intellectual Takeout audience already believe that college education has become a shadow of its former self… that its curriculum has been significantly dumbed down… and that its students spend more time partying than hitting the books. Here is just one more statistic that confirms that belief. According to a study
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