Category: politics

• September 18, 2013

  What follows from the assumption that the world is bad?

  What follows from the assumption that the world is bad? * I. Misery (Passive, Individual) 1. The world is bad. 2. Here is an instance of its badness. 3. It applies to me, adversely affects me. 4. Therefore, I shall complain. II. Accusation (Active, Individual) 1. The world is bad. 2. Here is an instance…
• September 17, 2013

  The world does not need saving

  ‘The universe is sacred. / You cannot improve it. / If you try to change it, you will ruin it. / If you try to hold onto it, you will lose it.’–Laozi, Daodejing 29 The transition from pre-modernity to modernity brought about a profound change in consciousness. In premodernity, the world was sacred. As such, it…
• August 30, 2013

  Nullius in verba

  One especially bewildering experience can serve as the reason for my writing Cultivating Discipline Lightly: A Guide for Philosophical Friends (2013). In 1660, the Royal Society takes as its motto a ‘creative mistake’; it shortens a line from Horace’s Epistles to read simply: nullius in verba. The line can be translated as ‘Take nobody’s word for it’…
• August 27, 2013

  Fundraising in the Context of a Gift Economy

  My friend Jonatan Spejlborg is currently raising funds for the artist residency and school he and his colleagues are creating. Specifically, they need to raise money in order to build the house where participants will live, work, and create. I offered a gift contribution earlier today, and I invite you to do the same. You can…
• August 26, 2013

  The decline of patronage and the rise of philanthropy

  A patron is to a contemplative age what a philanthropist is to an action-oriented one. During the passage to modernity, we see a slow yet undeniable shift away from patronage as a way of displaying generosity and toward philanthropy as a ‘style’ of contributing to social change. Edward Craig’s well-researched book The Mind of God…