Month: August 2011
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The failure of neo-liberalism and the UK riots
In “The London Riots and the Triumph of Neo-Liberalism,” the economist Branko Milanovic concludes, The problem is that the neo-liberal revolution has failed to explain what to do with those who do not prosper in the new system and yet adopt its values. The young men and women robbing stores are not, as some believe,…
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Change your mind, change your well-being. It’s that simple. No, it isn’t.
Last night the subway was a beast. The air was hot, stagnant, bloody. Passengers bumping, kvetching. Connections glutted and tedious. Trains inching forward. You say the subway was not the beast. It is my conception of the subway that is beastly. Change your mind–DIY-style–and you change the problem. Belching into rose petals. Problem goes away.…
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Some good news about social business
The first item: The social scientist Dan Ariely argues that “prosocial incentives” work better than incentives that benefit the individual only (higher salaries, competitive bonuses). According to Ariely, one important experiment shows that “we can reap the greatest benefits when we spend money on others, and even more when we spend money on close others.”…
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To be free of mad love: philosophy as a way of life
In the darkness of night madness has seized Our glorious Ajax: he is ruined and lost. –Tecmessa from Sophocles’s Ajax — “I want to get rid of my feelings, to be free of this mad love.” In its essence, philosophy is not a tool but a practice. It is a practice in right thinking and…
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On Geoff Dyer’s unsatisfactory philosophy of life – Part 2
You can read Part 1 here. — If the question is whether Dyer is a great stylist, then answer is unequivocally yes. If it is whether he is a brilliant comic writer, the answer is also yes. However, if the question is whether he–that is, the Dyer of his writings, the persona contained therein–is a…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 