Category Archives: Getting philosophical: life, love, the universe
A primer in how not to apologize (or how to not apologize), by Barack Obama
Ever the eager teacher of Life Lessons for America, Obama obliges us by offering a classic example of the non-apology masquerading as an apology. The rules: (1) Start with a conditional. “If” is usually best. This reduces the “apology” to … Continue reading →
Obama, Hillary, McCain, and courage under fire
I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the main themes of the coming election isn’t just “change.” It’s guts. Why else would Hillary lie about having come under fire in Bosnia? Surely claiming there was physical danger involved in … Continue reading →
You can go home again—at fifty?
It’s not news that in times of economic strife, grownup children often go back to live with their parents, if they’re desperate enough or shameless enough and the parents are kind enough to have them. And since this is a … Continue reading →
Facts, truth, and changing one’s mind
Fred Barnes seems to be channeling neo-neocon in his latest Weekly Standard article. Towards the end of his piece describing Iraq’s recent progress towards reaching those benchmarks we used to hear so much about, Barnes asks some of the same … Continue reading →
Obama: too young at heart
It’s no accident that Obama does well with young voters. There’s something about his rhetoric that especially appeals to the idealism of youth. As Betsy Newmark points out, the young are often “too ignorant of history to realize that change … Continue reading →
Cultural and moral relativism (Part II)
[Part I] Moral relativism is the idea that there is no absolute good and evil, but that all customs and practices of mankind must be evaluated in terms of their function in the society where they are found. Any attempt … Continue reading →
Cultural and moral relativism (Part I)
It used to be that virtually every society on earth had its own moral and social code and believed it was the best on earth—and not just the best for that particular society but the best, period. The only question … Continue reading →
New Year’s Day: I resolve
In this, the dawn of the new year of 2008, I do hereby solemnly resolve…to make no New Year’s resolutions. You heard it here first. Ah, where are the resolutions of yesteryear? The ones to diet, or to exercise, or … Continue reading →
Doing my non-Christmas shopping
I’m still unpacking in my new apartment, but even though I carefully numbered each packing box, and kept a list of what’s where, I apparently wasn’t specific enough. So now, in all those boxes labeled “kitchen” and sub-labeled things like … Continue reading →
Liberty, marriage, divorce
I’ve been slowly reading Allan Bloom’s 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind. It’s a fascinating discussion of trends in higher education that have only continued—and accelerated—in the ensuing years, so that even though some details in the book … Continue reading →
Getting married: what’s in it for me? (Part II)
[Part I here.] Marriage is an institution that is virtually universal across all cultures and throughout recorded history, but for most of that time it was an institution far different than it is today. One constant in Western (and many … Continue reading →