History Isn’t Made by Great Men
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.
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History
A Progressive’s Take on Ron Chernow’s ‘Grant’
Individuals don’t make history but there are the “best of us” people, like Grant, who withstand the crushing pressures of their times.
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The Precariousness of Societies Without Moralizing Gods
The answer to whether complex civilizations or moralizing gods came first has significant ramifications for how we address social ills today.
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Jung and Freud Feud: Is it Sex or the Collective Unconscious?
Once resembling the relationship between a devoted father and an admiring son, Freud and Jung split over the question of culture’s origins.
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A Divided World Needs to Make God a Useful Idea, Again
In his newest book, God: A Human History, Reza Aslan seeks to provide an explanation for this rise of what he refers to as “the humanized God.” He proposes a more pragmatic idea of god, instead.
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How the Toothbrush Mirrors Societal Progress: An Oral History
Just as simple technologies have been abandoned for more beneficial advancements, so should we jettison institutions, laws, philosophies, and cultures which no longer incubate human flourishing.
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