Philosophy ⋆ Page 23 of 40 ⋆ Brownstone Institute

The Long Road Ahead

Paul Frijters / November 9, 2022 / Philosophy, Policy, Society / 5 minute read

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The reality is that people do still vote for their captors. They really do not want to admit the damage they have been party to, even if that damage is to their own children, their own businesses, and their own communities. The big takeaway is that what Charles MacKay said in 1841 really does hold: “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Recovering senses takes years, not months.

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They Want Us to Hate Each Other

Jim Kofalt / November 7, 2022 / History, Philosophy, Society / 10 minute read

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Human beings are tribal by nature. We instinctively divide the world into an “us” and a “them”. It’s a mental shortcut. It relieves us of any responsibility to engage in deeper discernment. It protects us from risk. If we just stick with our own people, — or so the argument goes, — then we will be safe.

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The School of Friendship

Thomas Harrington / November 5, 2022 / Philosophy / 5 minute read

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What passes today for ideological convictions, in our supposedly terminally divided country, are nothing of the sort, but rather labels to which many quickly and lightly affix themselves precisely because they haven’t really thought deeply about what they believe and why, but don’t want to be seen as being out of step, or of not having really done their homework.

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What Happened to the Idea of Progress?

Thomas Harrington / November 2, 2022 / History, Philosophy / 8 minute read

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Like people, paradigms get tired, mostly because the humans that work within them, as Kuhn suggested, increasingly lose touch with the problems that originally elicited in them the intense and sacrifice-laden drive to create urgently desired new things. But humans aren’t always very good at recognizing when they have begun going through the motions. This is especially so with those in the thrall of a purely linear vision of time in which the perennial reality of intellectual and spiritual regression is afforded no legitimate space.

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The Selfish Collective

Haley Kynefin / November 1, 2022 / Philosophy, Psychology / 10 minute read

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A truly prosocial approach would not shut out all other goals and insist on one way forward. It would take into account the different priorities and viewpoints of various factions or individuals, approach them with respect, and ask how to best facilitate some sort of harmony among their needs. Instead of prescribing behavior onto others it would advocate for dialogue and open debate, and it would celebrate differences of opinion.

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Osterism Won’t Prevent March 2020 From Happening Again

Jessica Hockett / November 1, 2022 / History, Philosophy / 3 minute read

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Oster’s implicit claim that next-to-nothing was known about SARS-CoV-2 – and therefore all the pointless, unethical, and illegal things people were forced to do are understandable – isn’t the pathway to healing, because it’s dishonest. Inexplicably, she denies that, from the get-go, we knew Covid’s stratified risks and the harms of coerced interventions.

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It Was a Short Time Ago and Never Happened Anyway

Richard Kelly / November 1, 2022 / History, Philosophy / 8 minute read

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There are other good reasons to think the onslaught is not over, that we are at the moment in a ‘phony war’ while enemy forces regroup. Inflation, energy, food, surveillance are all active fronts in the broader battle. It hardly matters which one will flare up next.

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Science Misconceived: How the Covid Epoch Wrecked Understanding

Thomas Milovac / October 31, 2022 / Philosophy, Public Health / 16 minute read

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The pandemic along with the slogan, “Trust the science” has altered the desired perspective from one of healthy skepticism to blind acceptance. Such non-critical acceptance of any data, let alone research occurring at “the speed of science,” should give pause. Science moves forward when objections are made and hypotheses are fine-tuned, not when agreement ensues simply because an authority has decreed it so.

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Remember Those Who Cannot Speak

Jeffrey A. Tucker / October 27, 2022 / Philosophy, Psychology, Society / 6 minute read

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Remember this: every article you read on this site represents the views of thousands of learned and concerned people who are not in a position to speak. Every author here has taken risks and knows the stakes of the debate in which we find ourselves at the center. There is a silent group out there of highly intelligent people who are deeply grateful to all our supporters for making this opportunity to speak truth to power possible.

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Why has the Church Not Spoken Out?

John Lincoln Downie / October 24, 2022 / Philosophy / 8 minute read

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In this more recent attack, truly, who would have ever dreamed that the very medical establishment we all depended on and trusted in for caring for us, for healing us would be transformed at the “speed of science” into one of the most efficient means of subjecting entire nations under a medical dictatorship and subjugating the global population through medicine? Honestly, who had ever thought this could happen?

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Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

Jeffrey A. Tucker / October 23, 2022 / History, Philosophy / 9 minute read

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Karma is already turning on the whole gang of coercive totalitarians here and abroad. While the virus is invisible, the people who dreamed up and enforced lockdowns and mandates who wrecked the country are highly visible. They have names and careers, and they are right to be very worried about their futures. First step: apologize.

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Doctors Who Live in Fear and Promote it in Others

Thomas Harrington / October 18, 2022 / Philosophy, Society / 5 minute read

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Fear is a ubiquitous and essential part of the human experience. Indeed, a good case could be made that it is the driving force in the lives of many, if not most human beings.

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