Progressivism: How Many Steps Forward This Time? When English philosopher John Locke, who greatly influenced America’s Founding Fathers, claimed that mixing our labor with what was formerly common property gave us the right to now call that property our own, he both reaffirmed the Protestant work ethic and provided a philosophical defense of private property rights. Writing of the rights affirmed...
I was asked recently to define my politics by a student. I don't normally divulge my politics, but in this case, it was a "philosophy of human rights" course, and the topic of the DRC had come up. "My politics are simple," I said. "They begin with the body." I don't think my politics are unprecedented. In fact, I would argue that when Thomas Jefferson changed John Locke's...
'Tabula rasa' theory. Tabula rasa means 'blank slate', which stand for an idea that every idea of an object or even that we have is built up on experience that we had with that object or event. This idea is supported by philosophers John Locke (1632-1704) and David Hume (1711-76). Hume's reasons for saying 'every idea ... is copied from a similar impression'. Hume was developing Locke's idea that everything...
Irving Kristol: Other than criticizing the excesses of Great Society lefty liberalism, I didn't appreciate much the neoconservative politics of the late Irving Kristol. The Strauss influenced neocons have been pretty disappointing as policy wonks. However I am a big fan of their work on the political philosophy of the American Founding. The dialog between the East Coast and West Coast Straussians is...
Peter Soley on "the new proposed carbon trading scam" - Local News Just this week an agricultural firm sent out an email to the media outlets in Grenfell (me that is) publicizing the fact that to aid in the fight against global warming and to help agri businesses cope with the new proposed carbon trading scam – the firm is going to run tests to find sheep that give out less methane...
On this day in 1787 the United States Constitution was signed, however it was not until 2004 that an official observance was recognized by Congress. Prior to 2004 the day was celebrated as Citizenship Day. The law which officially recognizes today as Constitution Day provides that any U.S. public school receiving federal funds must set aside a portion of classroom instruction specifically for teaching...
One could argue that atheism leads to immorality. With no God-given commandments, the atheist pretty much has to make up moral standards as he or she goes along... The philosopher John Locke – one of the intellectual forebears of American democracy – once said that atheists can't ultimately be trusted in their promises and commitments, [...]
In a debate, so far conducted as an exchange of comments, I ahve made a longer comment than the system allows, so I have brought it a a post below: 'This was not how capitalism was meant to be, originally devised by Adam Smith as a philosophy to go alongside thrift .' My problem with this sentence is the part: “how capitalism was meant to be”. Societies are not ‘meant to be’...
After yesterday’s article by Mark Epstein, I feel the need to link to Kevin Baker today The Constitution is the fundamental legal document of our nation. It is the philosophy of John Locke laid down as the basic law of the land: Life, liberty, property. Protect all three against attacks from both private individuals and governments [...]
chary \CHAIR-ee\, adjective: Wary; cautious. Not giving or expending freely; sparing. Chary comes from Old English cearig, "careful, sorrowful," from cearu, "grief, sorrow, care." mascary when a person wears a scary amount of mascara Although Melanie thought her mascara application was flawless, her eyelashes really looked like scary spiderlegs Trivia Which two popular mystery...
Gradiva is latin for "she who walks" and the walker in Alain Robbe-Grillet's final film (he made made in a directorial career which began in 1963 with L'IMMORTELLE)transforms walking into an erotic art form. At least when the walker is a beautiful blonde ghost [?] of a woman perhaps dead a century. Or is it an actual figure in a painting of an executed woman which has come to life to tease...
I posted a piece on the success and future promise of genetic engineering the other day and offered a prize to anyone who could successfully link the subject of the post with the foundations of ethics. Sadly, no-one succeeded, but instead of giving you the answer directly let me give you a clue. In fact,three clues – three quotes in chronological order -- one from a Beatle, two from Enlightenment...
Do you remember that episode where Widmore says to Locke “your parents had a sense of humour when naming you and so have I” after giving him the pseudo name Jeremy Bentham. Well this bugged me. Why is John Locke a humorous name for him? Is it Ironic in some way? And why is Jeremy Bentham also funny? I decided to consult Wiki. John Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through...
An interesting perspective: By David Warren 7/30/2009 Inside Catholic ( www.insidecatholic.com ) The Holy Father has begun the long process of recovering for the Catholic Church a view of politics and society. WASHINGTON, D.C. (Inside Catholic) - I was struck once -- struck and annoyed -- with a vagrant remark made to me by the Canadian philosopher George Grant (1918-1988). It came up in a conversation...
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