“In the case of our current crisis of meaning, it was only in the 19th century that sensitive figures truly began to grasp the profound changes which had transformed societies.”
Category: The Left
Being Progressive in the 2019 Canadian Election
“Unfortunately, the Liberal party in power turned out to be as much a political creature as ever.”
Review: J.A. Smith’s “Other People’s Politics: Populism to Corbynism”
“So confident were many in the apparent neutrality and sensibility of the third way approach that the difference between Conservatives and Labor, much like the Republicans and the Democrats, started to look merely cosmetic.”
Why Christians Should Oppose Sohrab Ahmari
“In many ways, it was far better to see Christendom shrunk down to a few genuine believers than to see it ballooned and enforced into a parody of itself”
Jordan Peterson, Noam Chomsky, and What We Mean by “Left” and “Right”
“For these reasons, I think it is not unreasonable to identify this nature-nurture or nature-history spectrum as the basic guiding principle behind the left-right spectrum.”
The Uses and Misuses of Philosophy
“I wanted to take this opportunity to consider some of the ways philosophy has been used and misused in contemporary political debates to justify a broad range of positions.”
The Philosophy of Human Rights (Part II)
“The state must respect the freedom and autonomy of those fleeing violence by accepting them within its boundaries and offering them hospitality, which makes for a precursor to modern refugee law.”
The Philosophy of Human Rights
“Even those who agree that rights exist struggle to locate where they come from, what counts as a genuine right, and how to realize them.”
Mexico’s Glitter Revolution: How Should Women Protest?
“Now, pink glitter seems to be the spark of a new revolution in Mexico against gender violence.”
Slavoj Žižek and the Quillette Hoax
“But this just shows that Žižek is right in that there is no such thing as seeing the world as it really is. There is always something that mediates perception.”
The Four Competing Approaches to Higher Education
“Many critics point out that this one dimensional approach to education helps produce citizens who are selfish, disinterested in politics, and unprepared for dealing with moral complexities, which are not reducible to cost-benefit analysis.”
Taking Science Fiction Seriously
“Today, it is science fiction that often carried the torch of the utopian aspiration.”
Orwell and the Motives of “Socialists”
“The typical socialist often had very little concrete experience with the actual conditions facing those they purported to care about. They were often middle class, well educated, and highly resentful of the rich.”
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Where Hayek and Marx Part Ways
“The most committed liberal would believe that perfection is unattainable, while the socialist would contend that it is not only possible but necessary.”
Where Tolstoy Departs from Dostoevsky
“Tolstoy was not naïve in thinking that social and political reform would end all forms of evil in human life. Like Dostoevsky, he was very well aware that much wickedness flowed from the pride and vanity of men like Napoleon or the Russian tsars.”