I count among my major influences several writers who specialize or specialized in detective fiction, aka pulp fiction. I have come to consider many of the purveyors of this lurid fiction to be among the finest literary practitioners, literature producers, and philosophy masters. Who are some of these knights of the pen?
Tag: philosophy
How My Daughter Reminded Me What Self-Directed Education Really Means
On the walk home from the park, I told my kids about this new idea for a dedicated time allotment for various “subjects.” I suggested that maybe it was something we could try and wanted to know what they thought about the idea. My 10-year-old daughter’s answer was priceless. “Mom, no, I don’t think so. That sounds sort of ‘schooly’, don’t you think?”
The Liberal Spirit and Its Opposite, Alt-Rightism
Maybe a few self-described libertarians cling to the idea that property is essentially about exclusion, but they are fated to hit a wall: liberalism is a spirit as well as a set of ideas, and it cannot be turned against itself. It fosters human solidarity, not separation. Libertarianism, like its precursor, is an answer to the question: under what conditions do reasoning social animals best flourish? In answering that question the way it has, liberalism offers no home to sowers of division.
Can Self-Directed Education Exist In Public Schools?
“Do you think Self-Directed Education (SDE) can be integrated into the current public schooling model?” Responses ranged from “no way” to “anything is possible,” with commenters pointing out the key factors that would need to exist to make it work: increasing parental empowerment and mobilization; loosening compulsory schooling regulations; trusting children more and weakening the authoritarian structure of modern schooling; investing in smaller schools and classrooms.
Let Your Curiosity Be a Source of Meaning
The philosopher Albert Camus once wrote that the only meaningful philosophical question was “why shouldn’t I commit suicide?” Jarring, I know. But there’s more to the question than you might think. This is not just philosophy for emo kids.
Personality Shapes How We View, and Are Influenced By, People
I think personality drastically shapes how we view people. I was thinking about this in regards to Robert Murphy. He and Nassim Taleb are probably my favorite living thinkers/philosophers. Plenty of people would look at Nassim Taleb and think that makes a lot of sense, but most people that read Robert Murphy’s work wouldn’t think the same thing.
Abortion: A Voluntaryist Perspective
From the moment an egg is fertilized, there is a living cell with a unique set of human DNA. That is — scientifically — a human life. However, science cannot answer questions of morality on its own; that is the realm of ethics and philosophy and religion. Here, we consider the moral question from the Voluntaryist standpoint.
Philosophy of Voluntaryism 006 – The Role for Emotions in Voluntaryism (59m)
Philosophy of Voluntaryism 006 is a look at the role emotions can play in voluntaryism, by Danilo and Jim.
Liberty is Not About Politics
Politics is a distraction from the message and the philosophy of Liberty. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what politicians do or don’t do. It doesn’t matter which figurehead gets replaced by which lackey. Politics is the bread and circuses of our time.
Collectivism is the Antithesis of Libertarianism
Judging or denigrating individuals on the basis of collectivist concepts (such as race, birthplace, nationality, citizenship, etc.) is not just ignorant, it’s a dangerous lie which serves as the pretext for war, genocide, and all manner of evils.