When we say “It’s a little known fact that …”, we usually mean precisely that. But since I’m a philosopher rather than a polymath, I like to use the phrase to refer to something that if you think about it,… Read More ›
Everything You Wanted to Know About What’s Going On in the World But Were Afraid to Ask
EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT TARIFFS THEY’RE AFRAID YOU’D ASK
If you find a stranger in your house, there are two questions you might ask. One is “How did you get here?” And the other is “What are you doing here?” However the intruder answers the first question – suppose… Read More ›
TRADE, TAXES, AND TARIFFS
Here’s another from the Words-No-Longer-Mean-What-They-Did file. In talking about free trade, what’s the contrast class? It can’t be compelled trade, since that would just be a synonym for expropriation. And yet by free trade we don’t just mean trade that… Read More ›
LEDICE
There’s a civil war, though not a very civil one, that’s been going on in the southern Levant at least since 1948. Let’s see if we can identify the combatants. But first a disclaimer. Any attempt to define the parties… Read More ›
A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS IN ELEVEN MINUTES – TIME ME
Nothing about money or trading or buying or selling or competition or interest or inflation or taxes or … the list goes on and on. None of it makes any sense unless people own stuff. And people own stuff if… Read More ›
POST MORTEM
What Fox is reporting, but MSNBC is being assiduous not to acknowledge, is that one of the reasons behind the Democrats’ defeat in November is the growing rejection of wokeism. Why has the left gone silent on this? Because to… Read More ›
GOING BOURBON
Let’s do some conceptual housecleaning. Having a purpose and having a reason are two different things. The terrorist has a purpose in mind. He’s trying to change a government’s behaviour, whereas the reason someone goes postal is that he’s angry…. Read More ›
MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING
Occam’s Razor advises us never to multiply entities beyond what’s needed to explain what needs explaining. Is this because the simpler explanation is more likely to be the correct one? If so, what would explain that? So no. Rather it’s… Read More ›
LUIGI MANGIONE
It’s not yet clear what particular beef he had with the American health care system, but clearly discontent with it is widespread enough in America that some Americans – not many but some – are hailing Luigi Mangione as a… Read More ›
THE PERILS OF ASSOCIATIVE THINKING
Every liberator will eventually become a tyrant. He has to, because otherwise – or so he tells himself – the forces of the counter-revolution will reassert themselves. It happened with Robespierre, with Stalin, with Mussolini. It happened with Mao and… Read More ›
Paulosophical Vimplications 