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Why Fairy Tales Are So Dangerous1
- Literature
- October 12, 2016
Dear Mr. Dawkins, You’ve said lately that fairy tales are quite harmful. Your reason for thinking this is simple, and true: you told attendees at the Cheltenham Science Festival, “I think it’s rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism … Even fairy tales, the ones we all
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The Genius of Byzantium: Reflections on a Forgotten Empire1
- History
- October 12, 2016
“Le grand absent—c’est l’Empire” C. Dufour, Constantinople Imaginaire Everywhere Western man longs for Constantinople and nowhere has he any idea how to find her. To do so is to reclaim, at last, the meaning of an empire that once defined a hierarchy of imagination long ago abandoned by our civilization; of an eleven-century political, religious and
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Princeton Prof: Why it’s Dangerous to Overlook the Past1
- History
- October 12, 2016
Not long ago, my colleague Daniel Lattier suggested that a new logical fallacy has been lurking around town. This fallacy, he wrote, could be labeled “ad nostalgiam.” A person commits this fallacy when she reflexively accuses someone of nostalgia for pointing out some particular thing was once better or superior. Revered Princeton professor, theologian, and
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More Walls Being Built Than at Any Time in Modern History0
- Culture
- October 12, 2016
The Washington Post led off its Wednesday coverage with an interesting interactive story that carried this admission: nations around the world are walling off at an unprecedented rate. The numbers are clear: In 2015, work started on more new barriers around the world than at any other point in modern history. There are now 63
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Can Apes Read Your Mind?0
- Science
- October 12, 2016
One of the things that defines humans most is our ability to read others’ minds – that is, to make inferences about what others are thinking. To build or maintain relationships, we offer gifts and services – not arbitrarily, but with the recipient’s desires in mind. When we communicate, we do our best to take
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Benjamin Franklin on the 4 Virtues Learned in Chess0
- October 12, 2016
I have a bit of a confession to make. I have never played chess, nor have I really ever had the desire to do so. (Sorry, chess fans.) However, I may be changing my mind on this issue, particularly after reading a piece by Benjamin Franklin entitled, “The Morals of Chess.” Franklin begins by saying,
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What America’s First Student-Led Rebellion Looked Like0
- Culture
- October 11, 2016
In 1834, a 30-year-old seminary student named Theodore Dwight Weld led what is arguably the most successful student rebellion in U.S. history. It took place near Cincinnati at Lane Theological Seminary, where Weld had enrolled the previous year after dedicating his life to a single cause: the abolition of slavery. “Abolition immediate universal is my desire
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Were Native Americans the First Conservationists?0
- Education
- October 11, 2016
Over the past several decades, the environmental movement has promoted a view of American Indians as the “original conservationists.” References to this image abound: “The Indians were, in truth, the pioneer ecologists of this country,” former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall once said. “For many thousands of years, most of the indigenous nations on
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U.S. Kids Can’t Compete Globally in Financial Knowledge0
- Education
- October 11, 2016
When it comes to finances, Americans are quite adept at spending. But when it comes to other aspects of finances – such as the all-important one of saving – Americans have a bit of trouble. As USA Today recently reported, roughly seven in 10 Americans have a savings of less than $1,000. That savings track
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