Diogenes the Cynic
During the Peloponnesian War, the strategy adopted by Pericles was to barricade the city of Athens and the route to the port of Piraeus behind walls. The belief was that while the Spartans would ravage...
View ArticleButterfly connections
Lepidopterology. What a beautiful word. In case you don't know, it refers to the study of butterflies. Earlier today, I chanced upon the philosopher Nigel Warburton’s piece on the aesthetic case for...
View ArticleParfit
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russell Russel’s quote is something that I often think about each time I spend time reading stuff that I barely understand and more importantly that...
View ArticleOn Simone Weil
In the early years of my career in development, one of the raging debates was about the glory and ethical principle of working in the ‘field’ against joining organizations that paid lip service to...
View ArticleSpinoza’s God
The most dramatic moment in the history of philosophy must be Socrates being forced to drink hemlock. If one is asked to pick another moment that could rank high on drama, my submission would be...
View ArticleOn Henri Bergson
At the height of his fame, Henri Bergson, was not just France’s leading philosopher but also arguably the most popular public intellectual of his age. His lectures were jam-packed and the audience cut...
View ArticleEliot’s Middlemarch and ChatGPT
The Kindle is great to read huge tomes. The ‘minutes remaining’ indicator for each chapter provides a reference point for the time needed to finish a book. Nothing like it to make slow and steady...
View ArticleAgnes Callard and the Socratic Life
Socrates was known for engaging people in conversation and, through a series of probing follow-up questions, exposing flaws in their reasoning. Using what is now called Socratic questioning, he...
View ArticlePeak, End, and Exit: Daniel Kahneman’s Last Decision
I’ve read a ton of books on psychology over the past five years, and I’ve hardly come across a single work that doesn’t make a reference or has a quote from Daniel Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’....
View ArticleGirard’s Scapegoat Mechanism and the Mahabharata
In the fable of the 'Fox and the Sour Grapes', the disappointed fox walks away at the end. He does this only because he is alone. Had there been a few more foxes salivating over the grapes, walking...
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