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Human Nature

Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son

“College doesn’t make fools; it develops them. It doesn’t make bright men; it develops them. A fool will turn out a fool, whether he goes to college or not, though he’ll probably turn out a different sort of a fool.” *** With wisdom …

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The Heart of Humanity

“What distinguishes the risks I’m interested in from mere bravado is that they are taken in the interest of what one is committed to…” *** Hubert Dreyfus is the preeminent expert on Heidegger so much so that in fact the …

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The Optimism Bias: Imagining A Positive Future

In The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, Tali Sharot argues that we have a neurobiological basis for imagining a positive future. “Humans,” she writes, “do not hold a positivity bias on account of …

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The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves

In his book, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves, Dan Ariely attempts to answer the question: “is dishonesty largely restricted to a few bad apples or is it a more widespread problem?” He …

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Situations Matter

“We’re easily seduced by the notion of stable character. So much of who we are, how we think, and what we do is driven by the situations we’re in, yet we remain blissfully unaware of it.” — Sam Sommers *** Situations Matter is …

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