Philosophy ⋆ Page 18 of 47 ⋆ Brownstone Institute

How Young Adult Literature Became the Playground, and Battleground, for Adults

Ann Bauer / September 16, 2023 / Philosophy, Society / 9 minute read

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Post-Covid, the crusades of our polarized country continue to play out in the area of children’s literature. Why? Because adults have co-opted the art that used to be a sanctuary for the readers and seekers and thinkers of a new generation. By using school libraries as a battering ram for their political positions, grown people continue stealing from the experiences of children. There is no privacy, or autonomy, for teens in America. Their stories are nothing but cannon fodder for the culture wars.

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The Dignity of Labor Requires Freedom and Truth

Rev. John F. Naugle / September 6, 2023 / Economics, Philosophy / 7 minute read

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The same dynamic that Jesus encountered in Nazareth held true today; bringing “glad tidings to the poor” is a popular slogan but very often those who embrace it most quickly care little for being called out for their own sins which prevent delivery of these glad tidings. Sadly, this is precisely what has happened to those whose political history has been tied up with what was once called the labor movement.

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The Art of the Encounter

Thomas Harrington / September 1, 2023 / Philosophy, Society / 8 minute read

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That still leaves us with 65-70 percent of the population who are not quite ready to accept the reality of the intense disdain our predatory government and corporate elites have for them, and who still want to believe, in some measure, in the possibility of justice and dignity under the rules of the game as currently constituted.

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Welcome to the Dying Earth

Haley Kynefin / August 26, 2023 / Philosophy, Psychology / 28 minute read

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There are always forces in this world that pull us down into the muck and mire. In our day-to-day pursuit of happiness, desire, entertainment, and survival, it is easy to forget what we have the potential to become. It is easy to get lost in technicalities, in ego trips and in reactionary indignation. If we are the victims of atrocities, it is all the easier to seek our justice in retaliation, viciousness, and brutal revenge. But in a world where everybody sees themselves as the primary and true victim, where does that ultimately leave us?

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Covid Controls, the Cello, and Me

Charles Krblich / August 19, 2023 / Philosophy, Policy, Society / 4 minute read

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We played badly at the park for whomever had the courage to leave their house and brave our music. I thought of every note I played into the world as an impenetrable shield against the Sword of Damocles threatening our existence.

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Was Spengler Right After All?

Bert Olivier / August 17, 2023 / History, Philosophy / 7 minute read

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The only thing that the current, deliberately orchestrated onslaught against culture has in common with Spengler’s diagnosis, a century ago, of the demise of Western culture, is precisely that: the controlled demise of culture. Except that, for Spengler, this was an inescapable process that unfolded in the course of centuries (going back to the European Renaissance), whereas at present we are witnessing a hubristic, megalomaniacal attempt to torpedo both Western and other cultures for the sake of retaining financial and hence, political control over world affairs.

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Pandora’s Jar is Opened Again

Alan Lash / August 16, 2023 / Philosophy, Policy / 9 minute read

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The people who grasp at the fire of Prometheus are all very frightening. They are brilliant, true. They have the capacity to do great things, and have accomplished them. But it’s easy to see how they can be seduced by their desire for knowledge, the fruit of the tree, access to fire.

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Don’t Assume that Experts Know Something You Do Not

Eric Hussey / August 15, 2023 / Education, Government, Philosophy, Society / 6 minute read

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The “expert” class is nothing special in intelligence. If anything this is a clarion call to the general masses of the US to stop assuming the “experts” know something. You can use the same search engines as they do to learn facts, and together we far, far outstrip the intelligence of all the experts put together.

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Experts have Abdicated Their Responsibilities

Thomas Harrington / August 10, 2023 / Philosophy / 7 minute read

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The social class that has received university education during the last thirty years has taken control of our institutions without assuming the responsibilities that go with this power. As a result we find ourselves in a society that depends on experts who, seeing the people as a manipulable mass, systematically ignore their will. They seek power but no longer even try to establish the moral authority required for the exercise of respectful leadership.

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Snipe Hunts All the Way Down

Toby Rogers / August 8, 2023 / Philosophy / 7 minute read

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The revolution we seek then is about a turn away from the artificial and ridiculous toward the real. That would seem to be the most natural and rewarding turn of all. But the human condition and the flaws in human nature are such that we are always fighting a battle against the temptations of the artificial and idolatrous. Together we must build an entire culture and economy based on cherishing the good, the true, and the beautiful in everyday life.

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The Rise and Rhetoric of the Climate Chicken Littles

Roger Koops / August 4, 2023 / Government, Philosophy / 35 minute read

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Our planet is a very complex set of ecosystems that have lifespans far beyond even human existence, some working together and some in competition. Most of these we have not even begun to understand and we have only begun to collect data. Our knowledge of our ecosystem history is only slowly gaining (and it is not aided by avoiding debate and cherry-picking data).

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Coming Out as Injection Nonconforming

Christopher S. Grenda / August 2, 2023 / Philosophy, Vaccines / 8 minute read

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The Covid epoch was injection normativity on anabolic steroids. Injection makers and mandators asserted hegemony by popularizing their preferences as “normal.” They created power dynamics and hierarchy, social structures pressuring everyone toward compulsory protein production. They thereby stigmatized the “other” – the injection questioning and injection nonconforming.

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