Americans love to ascribe “rights” to themselves and others. The number and scope of rights seem to expand constantly—beyond even the long and impressive list set forth by the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights. But what, exactly, is a right? What is the ultimate origin of so-called “human rights”? Why do those questions matter
READ MOREWhen I was a little girl, I remember spending a number of summer days sitting and watching my mother load scores of garden tomatoes into jars and plop them into a steaming canner. Later, I would hear her banter with an older neighbor, “I have 30 quarts so far, Bob! How many do you have?”
READ MOREThe number of Mexican migrants seized near the U.S. border plummeted in 2015, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. Via Pew: Apprehensions of Mexican migrants declined to near-historic lows last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2015, according to data released earlier in the year by the U.S. Border Patrol. (U.S. border
READ MOREIf you’ve ever suffered from the condition or know someone personally who has, then you know that it’s one of the most profound and debilitating illnesses one can have. It leaves you questioning everything while simultaneously caring about nothing. It leaves you feeling like a husk of your former self. It’s a global epidemic, one
READ MOREA new study has found that spanking does not improve behavior in children in the short term and leads to detrimental behavior in the long term. Via CBS News: Spanking a child leads to bad behaviors, not the better manners some parents may think a smack on the bottom will elicit, a new study suggests. Researchers
READ MOREThe most famous work of the German sociologist and philosopher Max Weber (1864-1920) is undoubtedly The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. But one of his most oft-quoted statements comes not from this book, but from an essay titled “Science as a Vocation,” in which he describes the modern world as “disenchanted”: “The fate
READ MOREWriting on the ever popular Peanuts cartoon strip in The Atlantic, Jonathan Merritt makes an interesting observation about the prevalence with which Charles Schulz incorporated religion into his comics: “More than 560 of Schulz’s nearly 17,800 Peanuts newspaper strips contain a religious, spiritual, or theological reference. To put this into perspective, Schulz only produced 61
READ MORECamille Paglia, an American college professor and social critic, is one of a kind: a feminist who objects to almost every form of feminism known to womankind; a sexual radical who believes in complete freedom of sexual expression, yet a realist who insists that women have to take full responsibility for the sexual choices they
READ MOREA few weeks ago we released an iPhone app for Intellectual Takeout. It was received really well and a number of folks recommended changes, such as sorting by categories and the ability to “favorite” or “bookmark”, to make it better. We listened and got to work on a new version. Download Intellectual Takeout’s App 2.0! The
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