SPOTLIGHT
Finding Truth: Thinking Critically Through the Campaigns
By: Brannon Gerling
We often find ourselves at the informational crossroads, wondering whether we should go left or right. A new friend wandering homelessly and in need asks for a significant sum of money. Do you lend it to her and have faith in her resourcefulness to pay you back? You want to buy sold-out concert tickets on Craigslist. How do you know that after the money transfer they’ll indeed be delivered? Or a woman you’re recently intimate with tells you condoms aren’t necessary because she’s on the pill. Why would she lie?
How do we know when to trust when the law is unable to reverse a transgression?
Knowing whether our beliefs are true or false, says Bertrand Russell in The Problems of Philosophy, is a question of the greatest difficulty, a question that has been challenging philosophers, and specifically epistemologists, for centuries.
When wagering is less personal, but perhaps carries more gravity—like in democratically deciding the future of a government—knowing what to believe can mean the difference between war and peace. (more…)
Featured Author: Jared Marcel Pollen
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THEORY
Finding Truth: Thinking Critically Through the Campaigns
Knowing whether our beliefs are true or false is a question of the greatest difficulty—in democratic elections it can mean the difference between war and peace. Here is a theory of truth, along with eight concrete and practical ways to cut through the bullshit and understand political language better.
Three Fundamental Principles in Trump’s American Foreign Policy
Trump’s principles have reshaped the American foreign policy matrix. However, the foreign policy focus of US presidents in their first terms is not always the foreign policy focus at the end of their second terms.
Santa Claus vs. Black Holes
Journey2Psychology, a project by: Dr. Michael Gordon Mike Gordon is travelling across the world to converse with influential psychologists and
PRACTICE
Finding Truth: Thinking Critically Through the Campaigns
Knowing whether our beliefs are true or false is a question of the greatest difficulty—in democratic elections it can mean the difference between war and peace. Here is a theory of truth, along with eight concrete and practical ways to cut through the bullshit and understand political language better.
Three Fundamental Principles in Trump’s American Foreign Policy
Trump’s principles have reshaped the American foreign policy matrix. However, the foreign policy focus of US presidents in their first terms is not always the foreign policy focus at the end of their second terms.
Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing
Nathan Nobis from 1000-Word Philosophy examines the arguments pertaining to the difficult issue of euthanasia. Sadly, there are people in
JUSTICE
Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing
Nathan Nobis from 1000-Word Philosophy examines the arguments pertaining to the difficult issue of euthanasia. Sadly, there are people in
Social Contract Theory
When you make an agreement of some significance (e.g., to rent an apartment, or join a gym, or divorce), you typically agree to certain terms: you sign a contract. This is for your benefit, and for the the other party’s benefit: everyone’s expectations are clear, as are the consequences of failing to meet those expectations.
Plato’s Crito: When should we break the law?
Plato’s Crito describes a conversation that takes place in 399 B.C.E. in an Athens prison, where Socrates awaits execution.Not long before, an assembly of more than 500 Athenian citizens convicted Socrates of corrupting the youth and impiety, essentially failing to respect the gods of the city.
ARTS & LETTERS
Featured Author: Jared Marcel Pollen
Jared Marcel Pollen is a novelist and essayist, whose writing on political subjects looks out upon the world from a space where one might have once found Orwell, Hitchens, or Arendt.
The Tradition in Traditional Masculinity
Pinker points to both the origin and function of a code of conduct that became the Western view of masculinity. ... the biological realities of the male species could be best and most productively served through the attainment and development of specific virtues.
Stoicism & the Destruction of Man
Recently, the American Psychological Association (APA) took aim at “traditional masculinity” by, amongst other things, criticizing “stoicism” as one of its problematic characteristics (APA Guidelines 11). But the essence of stoicism, and our understanding of it, stems from a philosophy that is meant to allow the individual to reach their full potential as a human.