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Essential Reading

War and Peace is rooted in Tolstoy’s longing for the infinite and universal. Yet, it reveals our need to focus on the concrete and mundane.
("The Battle of Austerlitz" by François Gérard, 1810)
Culture Essays 

History Isn’t Made by Great Men

August 12, 2021December 27, 2021 14 min read Henriikka Hannula Essential Reading, History, Literature

War and Peace is rooted in Tolstoy’s longing for the infinite and universal. Yet, it reveals our need to focus on the concrete and mundane.

Read More
Sacred Consecrated Spaces Waiting Rooms Places Erraticus
(Martin Lostak)
Culture Essays 

Consecrated Waiting Rooms

April 19, 2021December 27, 2021 12 min read Derek Parsons Architecture, Emotional Well-Being, Essential Reading

Whether we are religious or claim no sense of the spiritual, sacred spaces help us to better confront the transient nature of existence.

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Richard Rorty Rortyan Liberalism Truth Pragmatism Cheryl Misak Philosophy
(Louise Boyle/Cornell University Library)
Essays Philosophy 

Rortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth

April 16, 2021August 10, 2022 16 min read Adrian Rutt Epistemology, Essential Reading, Liberalism, Politics, Pragmatism, Truth

In defending liberalism, the philosopher Richard Rorty argues that there is no difference—in practice—between aiming at justification and aiming at something more called truth.

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American Politics Deliberative Democracy Bargaining Table Daniel Layman
("Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner" by Thomas Nast, 1869)
Essays Society 

American Democracy and Its Broken Bargaining Tables

March 23, 2021April 28, 2021 13 min read Daniel Layman Democracy, Essential Reading, Politics

American politics is in peril. Now is the time to replace our broken bargaining tables with more deliberative democracy.

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Laws Nature Philosophy Science Dialogue
Dialogues Philosophy 

So You Think There Are Laws in Nature?

February 23, 2021December 27, 2021 13 min read Eleni Angelou Essential Reading, Metaphysics, Nature

A “skeptic” and a “believer,” two friends debate over whether there are laws in nature. Do supposed regularities qualify as laws?

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Sentience, Not Consciousness, Is Key to the Cosmos Panpsychism Erraticus
Essays Science & Tech 

Sentience, Not Consciousness, Is Key to the Cosmos

August 26, 2020April 28, 2021 19 min read Michael Jawer Consciousness, Essential Reading, Panpsychism

If the universe is conducive to sentience rather than consciousness, then a scientific model for some even more fascinating phenomena emerges.

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A Pragmatic Approach to Ideas

An online publication focused on human flourishing, taking a pragmatic approach to ideas. We care about ideas that help us to live well together, focusing on their practical consequences.

 

“Pragmatism, on the other hand, asks its usual question. ‘Grant an idea or belief to be true,’ it says, ‘what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone’s actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth’s cash-value in experiential terms?'” — William James

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