Tag Archives: philosophy

Sex, Schisms and Pseudo-Scholarship

We are seeing open warfare between various feminist and other progressive factions on social media and in the universities. A key divide is between so-called gender critical feminists and trans activists. Professional scholars might once have been expected to bring … Continue reading

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Why are you a conservative?

This is addressed to people who consider themselves fundamentally conservative, and not libertarian, and, also reject the supernatural. By this, I mean that if you do support libertarian policies (I often do) it is not necessarily because you are at … Continue reading

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Wisdom of the East

SuperSnail asks: Hey Razib, could you compile a list of Chinese and Indian religious history/philosophy books? I’ve actually made the call for books on Indian religion and philosophy elsewhere. My knowledge set in this domain is very thin, so I … Continue reading

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The philosophers as types

I don’t know what to make of this David Brooks column, Bentham vs. Hume. I will say that the main reason I lean Right is a suspicion of the efficacy of managerial technocracy. And I speak as someone who is … Continue reading

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When liberals are conservative, and conservatives liberal

One of the strange things one observes in political discussions is the selective usage of the “precautionary principle.” For example, in general the modern Left tends to be sanguine about disruption of accepted social norms and institutions. It believes that … Continue reading

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Choice & authority

What Conservatism Should Look Like by Andrew J. Bacevich has elicited a massive retaliation on the part of Damon Linker. I tend to lean toward Bacevich myself, though your mileage may vary. I believe that for all of Linker’s coherent … Continue reading

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Mozi vs. the Confucians

From Wikipedia on the bête noire of the Confucians, Mozi: …Though Mozi did not believe that history necessarily progresses, as did Han Fei Zi, he shared the latter’s critique of fate (?, mìng). Mozi believed that people were capable of changing … Continue reading

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The wages of reason

Just to be clear, I support the program of experimental philosophy.  Some of the arguments on this weblog have seen me be extremely dismissive of reason. If one is not ambitious, and keeps the chain of propositions suitably modest, there … Continue reading

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Metaphysics & mathematics

Edward Feser, An open letter to Heather MacDonald: Now I have claimed – as a great many other thinkers, both secular and religious, would claim – that philosophy, and in particular the branch of philosophy called metaphysics, is another form … Continue reading

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