The Spiral of Silence
Our desire to fit in with others means we don’t always say what we think. We only express opinions that seem safe. Here’s how the spiral of silence works and how we can discover what people really …
Politics
The Terror of Totalitarianism Explained
We all hope totalitarianism — a form of government in which the state has no limits in authority and does whatever it wants — is a thing of the past. Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia showed what the …
Tyranny, Democracy, and the Polity: Aristotle’s Politics
We’ve written before about why Plato matters. What about Aristotle? The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that questions of the state, how it should be organized, and how it should pursue its …
Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
Most great thinkers have speculated about the kind of leadership that might give rise to a better society, analyzing it through what’s sometimes called a “normative” lens: What …
Lee Kuan Yew’s Rule
Lee Kuan Yew, the “Father of Modern Singapore”, who took a nation from “Third World to First” in his own lifetime, has a simple idea about using theory and philosophy. Here it …
Civilization and its Fundamental Passions
“To describe a culture is to describe the structure of its institutions.” — Joseph Tussman *** In his book The Burden of Office, the educator and philosopher Joseph Tussman, who brought us …
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
Two years ago today, internet activist Aaron Swartz took his own life. At the time, Swartz was in the midst of being prosecuted for downloading academic journal articles. While 27 at the time of his …
Four Reasons Why Plato Matters
Plato devoted his life to one goal: helping people reach a state of fulfillment. To this day, his ideas remain deeply relevant, provocative, and fascinating. Philosophy, to Plato, was a tool to help …
Maya Angelou on Haters, Life, Reading, and Love
I’ve been slowly working my way through some of Maya Angelou’s material. Notably, Conversations with Maya Angelou, Letters to my Daughter, and What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self. …
The Deliberative President
Here are some excerpts from Robert Gates’ Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War that look at some of the decision making aspects under Bush and Obama. Obama was the most deliberative president I …
Charlie Munger: Energy Independence is a Terribly Stupid Idea
Everyone wants energy independence. Everyone—from politicians and business people to academics—says that our reliance on foreign energy is bad. But have we really thought about this? Does it make …
America’s Food Crisis: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
As a follow up to the Michael Pollan food as culture post (on his new book Cooked), a reader passed along a link to this video on Pollan’s 2006 classic The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History …
The Revenge of Geography
In The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, author Robert Kaplan offers a new way in which to view the global upheavals and to understand …