Digital media allows us to create our own brands. We select snapshots of our lives to maintain an image of ourselves we want others to see, though it is sometimes […]
Tag: Philosophy
If Bernard Mandeville Is Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld Is Adam Smith
Smith’s review on Mandeville’s has an interesting presentation: In ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments,’ Smith reviews the great systems of moral philosophy and devotes a long chapter to Mandeville, who […]
Happy 2023: Adam and God
The turning of the New Year is a time for cheer and refreshed hope. Happy 2023! It is also a time for reflection, however, and we cannot escape the fact […]
The American Heritage of Freedom in the Liberal Arts
Freedom is a complicated idea. Since we can talk about liberty in the positive and the negative, it’s also a contradictory idea. In our time, liberty has meant the ability […]
Adam Smith on Humanity’s Greatest Weakness
Most weeks, the nonfiction bestseller lists have one or more self-improvement books promising specific techniques you can use to be healthier, more productive, happier. Since almost any technique will work […]
A Swiss Oasis of Liberal Sanity in a Totalitarian Europe
On September 16, 1939, barely more than two weeks after the beginning of the Second World War in Europe with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, the “Austrian”-oriented […]
In Defense of Arguing
Do you want a romantic partner who loves to argue? Do you want employees, colleagues, and friends who criticize you? Do you value politicians and public intellectuals who aggressively challenge […]
Professors Are Not “Priests of Democracy”
On Nov. 17, US District Judge Mark Walker struck down Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ signature Stop WOKE Act, which bars Florida’s higher education institutions from teaching critical race theory (CRT), […]
Capitalism’s Cure for Economic Sins
Philosopher and business ethics expert James Otteson of the University of Notre Dame wants to save you from the error of your ways, and by doing so improve your life. […]
The Revolutionary Trigger
The Declaration of Independence is a fading memory. Where once it was revered as the secular foundation of a people, it’s now seen mainly as a curiosity that, at best, […]