Culture

Like Thinking For Yourself? Think Again 0
- Culture
- July 13, 2018
Most of us want to think for ourselves. We respect those that do and try to do so ourselves. This may be the wrong way to go about it, says Alan Jacobs, professor of humanities at Baylor University. Jacobs makes three helpful points about thought and why it is so hard to do well in
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Why Deep Thinkers Are Often Societal Outcasts 0
- Culture
- July 13, 2018
Since the beginning of Western societies, Socrates has been the prototypical intellectual inquisitor. Perhaps the “historical Socrates” has been difficult to pin down, but two things remain consistent among various accounts of this ancient thinker: 1) his claim to possess no true knowledge, and 2) his relentless examination of the knowledge claims of others. For
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Pascal on Why Living in the Present Is So Difficult (Yet so Important)0
- Culture
- July 12, 2018
Philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) is most famous for “Pascal’s Wager,” the argument that human beings “bet” with their lives on the existence of God. Yet Pascal’s celebrated book of philosophical musings Pensées (in which the Wager appears) is chock full of keen insights about the human condition—many as timely now as when they
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Why Aristotle Believed Common Goods Are More Divine than Private Goods 0
- Culture
- July 12, 2018
In his famous Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle recognizes that we human beings aim at attaining a veritable panoply of goods. This panoply includes goods as diverse as life, friends, comfortable shoes, a steak dinner, fine wine, health, the virtues, enough money to meet one’s needs, medicine when one is ill, sufficient exercise, and so forth. All
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Denmark’s New “Ghetto” Policies: A Desperate Push for Cultural Assimilation of Muslims?0
- Culture
- July 11, 2018
Denmark, like most other Western European nations, has largely failed to assimilate Muslim immigrants into its remarkably homogenous society, where nearly 90% of residents are of Danish descent. But now Denmark’s government has decided to tackle the problem head on by introducing a controversial battery of laws to dramatically speed up the assimilation process. As reported in the New
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How the Supreme Court Avoided a Disaster with the Trump Travel Ban 0
- Culture
- July 10, 2018
Coming close to the end of its term, and not long before the announcement of Justice Kennedy’s retirement, the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the constitutionality of President Trump’s travel ban, Trump v. Hawaii, has all-but been eclipsed. But the Court’s constitutional ruling was exceptionally important and deserves closer attention. The Court’s narrow majority staved off a
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