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Marx: A Complete Guide to Capitalism
Karl Marx. One of – maybe the – most influential thinker in all of history. Has any other philosopher influenced not just ideas, but movements, actions, revolutions, the courses of entire governments, countries, and continents? Understanding Marx is key to understanding the political and economic waters that have gotten us to where we are today,…
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Proudhon: Introduction to Mutualism and Anarchism
‘To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have neither the right, nor wisdom, nor virtue… To be governed means that at every move, operation, or transaction one is noted, registered, entered in a census,…
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Proudhon: What is Property?
The phone, that screen, that you’re watching this through. It’s not yours. You think it’s yours – and it is, legally – but morally, ethically, actually, its everyone’s. What is property? Property is theft. Although, not all property, as it turns out. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was the first self-declared anarchist. He wrote What is Property? in…
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Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus
It’s 2012 and Hurricane Sandy is approaching New York. The director of the ICU in Bellevue Hospital has to make a choice. The electricity will cut out; ventilators will fail. There aren’t enough for all the patients. Dr Evans is forced to make a stark decision with limited information: who will live and who will…
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Foucault: Madness & Civilization (History of Madness)
What does it mean to be mad? Insane? Crazy? Do these things exist outside the realms of reason? If they’re unreasonable how can they be understood by reasonable means? And what if, long ago, the mad led better lives than they did now? What would it mean for our society if fools were once closer…
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Introduction to Stoicism
‘Begin each day by telling yourself: today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil’. You’re probably already a stoic in some way. It’s part of our culture. Influenced by Socrates and emerging in Ancient Greece…
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Romanticism: Introduction, Poetry & Philosophy
Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains. – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762 Whate’er its mission, the soft breeze can come To none more grateful than to me; escaped From the vast city, where I long had pined A discontented sojourner: now free, Free as a bird to settle where I will. – William…
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The First Critics of Modern Life
I’ve always been interested in the history of modernity – growth of industry, cities, technology, science – because through it we can define, analyse and interrogate what that’s meant for how we think and do things today – to uncover the pros and cons of our attitudes, beliefs, sensibilities, and to de-normalise what we think…
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Robert Nozick: Anarchy, State & Utopia
Individuals have rights, and there are things no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights). This is American philosopher Robert Nozick’s bold pronouncement at the beginning of Anarchy, State and Utopia, a 1975 book that is a largely a response to Rawl’s 1971 A Theory of Justice, which I’ve covered here.…
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How To Be Yourself
‘This above all: to thine own self be true’ I want you to close your eyes. Focus on how things enter your mind. Where are you? Notice the sounds around you as they appear in your consciousness. Concentrate on my voice, on how it’s guiding you to do something. Now direct your attention to whatever…
Then & Now
Human(itie)s, in context