Picture Immanuel Kant, the eighteenth century German philosopher, sitting on a couch in Königsberg with a bowl of popcorn. On the screen, twenty five women in evening gowns are competing for roses from a man named Brad who works in pharmaceutical sales. One of them is crying in a limousine. Another is calling herself the […]
Why Kant Would Hate “The Bachelor” (And Most Reality TV) Read More »
There is a famous line attributed to Voltaire that goes something like this: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The quote is everywhere. It is printed on mugs, sprayed on protest signs, quoted by politicians, and dropped into Twitter threads by people who
European vs. American Free Speech: Competing Interpretations of Voltaire’s Legacy Read More »
There is a quiet scandal at the heart of modern thinking about money. We have somehow arrived at a moment in history where earning a profit is treated as morally suspicious, while losing money is seen as evidence of pure intentions. A nonprofit that burns through donations and produces nothing measurable gets a respectful nod.
There is a phrase that will make you deeply unpopular at dinner parties, family gatherings, and virtually any setting where people expect you to perform emotional labor on command. That phrase is: “I do not care.” Say it out loud. Notice how it feels almost illegal. We have been trained since childhood to believe that
The Moral Imperative of Saying “I Do Not Care” (Ayn Rand) Read More »
There is a certain kind of student who shows up to class, listens carefully to the teacher, nods along for years, and then quietly dismantles everything the teacher ever said. Aristotle was that student. And his teacher was not just anyone. His teacher was Plato, the most famous philosopher in the Western world, the man
Beyond Plato: How Aristotle Invented the Science of Everything Read More »
There is a moment in Thucydides that should be required reading before every election. It is 415 BC, and Athens is debating whether to invade Sicily. The sensible option is obvious: do not do it. Athens is already stretched thin. The Peloponnesian War has been grinding on for years. Resources are limited. The risks are
The Alcibiades Effect: Why We Can Not Stop Voting for Charismatic Psychopaths Read More »
There was a time when if you wanted to know how to live, you read Aristotle. If you wanted to understand justice, you opened Plato. If you wondered why people behave the way they do, you turned to Hume or Kant or maybe, on a particularly ambitious afternoon, Nietzsche. These men sat in studies and
How Economists Became the New Philosophers: The Legacy of Becker’s Imperialism Read More »
There is a strange little secret hiding inside every fair system ever built. You can hand everyone the same starting line, the same rulebook, the same coach, and the same shoes. You can scrub the playing field clean of every bias you can identify. And yet, when the dust settles, a small group will end
The Pareto Paradox: Why Equal Opportunity Always Creates Unequal Outcomes Read More »
There is a particular kind of panic that strikes when you feel like you should be doing something. Your inbox is full. The market is crashing. Someone said something wrong on the internet. Every cell in your body screams the same command: act. Do something. Anything. Move. And that, according to a Roman emperor who
Karl Marx died in 1883. He never saw a ring light. He never watched someone unbox a package on camera while whispering about a discount code. He never encountered the phrase “link in bio.” And yet, if you sat him down in front of Instagram for fifteen minutes, he would probably nod slowly and say
Karl Marx on Influencer Culture: Are You the Product or the Producer? Read More »