Is Everything For Sale? What Money Can’t Buy
Should we worry that we are increasingly moving towards a society where everything is for sale? In What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, Michael Sandel argues that we should for two …
Philosophy
Can History Tell the Truth?
“I know it is the fashion to say,” George Orwell once wrote, “that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and …
Erik Hollnagel: The Search For Causes
A great passage from Erik Hollnagel‘s Barriers And Accident Prevention on the search for causes: Whenever an accident happens there is a natural concern to find out in detail exactly what …
An Ancient Lesson on Taking Responsibility For Decisions
“A decision is responsible,” wrote Charles Frankel, “when the man or group that makes it has to answer for it to those who are directly or indirectly affected by it.” Think …
Charles Frankel: What We Suffer from Today
“What we suffer from today,” GK Chesterton once wrote, “is humility in the wrong place. … A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has …
Epictetus on Freedom, Thinking, Information and Conventional Thinking
Born as a slave in a wealthy household nearly 2,000 years ago in Hierapolis, Epictetus caught a lucky break when his “owner” Epaphroditus, let him study liberal arts. Through the Stoic …
The Worst Mistake of All: Outshining the Master
“Being defeated is hateful, and besting one’s boss is either foolish or fatal. Most people do not mind being surpassed in good fortune, character, or temperament, but no one, especially not a …
Freeman Dyson on The Difference Between Science and Philsophy
Freeman Dyson, writing in The NY Review of Books: On quantum physics The essence of quantum physics is unpredictability. At every instant, the objects in our physical environment—the atoms in our …
Richard Feynman — Take the World From Another Point of View
In this clip from a documentary film shot in Yorkshire in 1973, physicist and philosopher Richard Feynman (1918-1988) talks with Fred Hoyle, an accomplished astronomer from the United Kingdom. Feynman …
The Limits of Crowd Wisdom
Jaron Lanier in You Are Not A Gadget commenting on the limits of crowd wisdom: There are certain types of answers that ought not be provided by an individual. When a government bureaucrat sets a …
Arthur Schopenhauer: Men of learning …
“Men of learning are those who have read the contents of books. Thinkers, geniuses, and those who have enlightened the world and furthered the race of men, are those who have made direct use of …
On Reading and Books
On Reading and Books — an essay by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), who influenced some of the most prominent minds in the world. Ignorance is degrading only when it is found in …
The Oracle, a Manual of the Art of Discretion
In The Art of Worldly Wisdom, Christopher Maurer translates this gem from Baltasar Gracián y Morales: Know how to sell your wares, intrinsic quality isn’t enough. Not everyone bites at substance …
Not All Good Arguments Are Logically Sound
Some interesting thoughts from James Gray on whether all good arguments are logically sound. Understanding why helps us appreciate good arguments. Proof that not all arguments are logically sound An …
The Power of Negative Thinking
An insightful piece by Oliver Burkeman on the folly of the all-positive thinking movement and its rejection of the possibility of failure. “The psychological evidence, backed by ancient wisdom, …
Susan Sontag: Aphorisms and the Commodification of Wisdom
A brilliant post from brain pickings drawing our attention to Susan Sontag and the commodification of wisdom. As the interconnectedness and velocity of information continue to grow, these passages …