Philosophy articles feature reflection and analysis about public life, values, ethics, and morals.
All philosophy articles at Brownstone Institute are translated into multiple languages.
The myth of the hero does not teach us to eradicate life’s pains and risks in pursuit of only comfort and safety. That is the doctrine of the animal. Rather, the myth of the hero shows us that it is necessary to embrace suffering and risk in order to experience life’s miracle; and that, for such a transcendent reward — for such excellence — that is a price worth paying.
Covidianism Inverts the Heroic Archetype Read More »
How can we go back to living in just one world? Was it all an illusion in the first place? Is it just that the veil has been drawn back, and now we (or I) see the true horror of reality? What took me so long? How I long for a reconciliation of those two worlds, where there is a shared understanding of truth, where we can at least confront problems together, on the same side. Until something changes, I must try to be a citizen of these two mutually exclusive worlds.
The Criminalization of the Ordinary Read More »
The Godly path to Adam Smith’s liberal plan is a path away from cultishness. Can liberalism be sustained in a world of waning belief in God? Tocqueville said that the spirit of liberty and the spirit of religion depend on one another. Hayek ended The Fatal Conceit asking whether people in an age of waning theism will not be inclined to find meaning and validation in cultish politics.
Adam Smith’s Liberal Path Read More »
My experience in academia and many other realms of life has shown me that the desire to humiliate others and thus putatively raise one’s cache of social capital—an impulse I can honestly say I’ve never quite understood—is a cardinal trait of many human beings, most of whom are desperately and futilely trying to use these public demonstrations of would-be dominance to very fill large affective holes within their spiritually empty selves.
Humiliation Ritualized, in Childhood and Politics Read More »
Covid denier, climate denier, election denier, science denier – are all bandied about to immediately end debate, tar any difference of opinion as literally insane, and depict anyone who ever disagrees with you as stupid and evil. This epithet is now even being used pre-emptively to makes sure that no matter what anyone who now or ever questions the move to ban gas stoves will not be doing so based on facts or logic but because of their “gas stove denialism.”
Denialism: A Woke Way to Stifle Dissent Read More »
From legend and literature, this is how things usually are presented, not with one inviting temptation to go along but rather with three chances to comply, each with assurance that all will be well if we just give up our recalcitrant desire to think and act for ourselves. At each stage, every one of us faces enormous pressure, and not just from government but also from family, friends, and coworkers.
Covid and the Three Tests of Compliance Read More »
By closing the church door to the unvaccinated, many were embracing a malicious apostasy that we have not seen since Franco. From July 2021 to mid-2022, vaccine passports were used in churches loyal to the state. What it meant was someone could go to church with the flu, hepatitis, syphilis, herpes, and early onset of Ebola, if they had their Covid Vaccination Certificate.
Covid Theology in the Australian Church Read More »
Moral courage is risky: it has a price, which is why it is called courage. As Aristotle famously declared, “Courage is the first virtue because it makes all other virtues possible.” If that is true, and it is, then the power to reverse attempts to remake Western society into one devoid of the fundamental moral values that enable all individuals to thrive peacefully lies ultimately – and only – within each individual.
The Shift from Personal to Positional Morality Read More »
Since time immemorial super-elites have worked assiduously to convince the second-tier elites and the masses further below that their highly class-specific “victories” are, in contrast to what simple observations would tell us, of great benefit to society as a whole.
Not Religious? Might Want to Check on that Again Read More »
We must all join forces in the fight for the right to express ourselves, to think, to doubt, to come together in the public square to discuss, reason and shape society. This battle will not be easy, and there are many indications that it will soon intensify. But surrender is not an option, for what is at stake is a future fitting for humanity. We must fight for it in brotherhood, armed with compassion, courage and integrity.
Join Forces and Fight for Freedom Read More »
The preliminary results of the mRNA vaccine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) by Pfizer and Moderna were celebrated as spectacularly successful and so governments and the media assumed that the solution had been found. A procession of leaders assured the public that the vaccines were so effective that once injected, you would not become infected or pass infection on to others.
Ethical Challenges Arising from the Grand Illusion Read More »
The peoples of the Mayan and Aztec empires were surrounded by monuments to the greatness of their leaders and their faith, and they celebrated both. We too look back in awe at what they built despite what we know: their social systems were bloody and barbaric in ways we cannot imagine now. And yet when we study their histories in our own times, with the appropriate amount of humility, we face a similar problematic disorientation.
Human Sacrifice, Then and Now Read More »
