Philosophy

Philosophy articles feature reflection and analysis about public life, values, ethics, and morals.

All philosophy articles at Brownstone Institute are translated into multiple languages.

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talking about vaccine

Why I’m No Longer Talking to People About the Vaccine

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As citizens, concerned citizens, we engage in debate not to hear ourselves talk, but to convince others of the truth of what we claim. What is supposed to happen, in a debate, ideally speaking, is that the person who makes the best and most convincing argument carries the day. What that means in everyday language is that if I best you in a debate, you change your mind. The same goes for me. Evidence changes people’s minds. 

Why I’m No Longer Talking to People About the Vaccine Read Journal Article

ideological possession

Ideological Possession Is the Real Pandemic

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Although pandemics of ideological possession can be fatal to entire societies, the disease provides immediate benefits to each afflicted individual, such as intellectual certainty and stability, feelings of moral superiority, an apparent simplification of life’s difficult decisions and questions, avoidance of true moral responsibility, and a sense of belonging among others similarly afflicted. All of these tend to prevent self-treatment. 

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we are still locked down

We Are Still Locked Down

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Two Christmases came and went when we were told that meeting and celebrating the season was a biohazard and not recommended. In some places, it was forbidden. It’s hard to imagine a more grim policy and it still shocks us to think back and realize that it was all deliberate. One means to reverse this horror is simple: find friends, celebrate together, share stories and ideals, promote peace and love, and work to rebuild what we have lost.

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thou shalt not

We Need a List: Thou Shalt Nots of Public Health 

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Civil society in general and public health specifically needs a list of “Thou shalts” and “Thou shalt nots.” Without them, any evil imaginable can be justified when the next panic hits. If we want to avoid a repeat of 2020 or, God forbid, something even worse, we must make it clear what we will never ever do, no matter how scared we might get. Otherwise, the siren call of “just saving one life” may lead us to previously unthinkable evils.

We Need a List: Thou Shalt Nots of Public Health  Read Journal Article

woke totalitarianism

Woke Is the Handmaiden of Totalitarianism 

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Woke is an immensely important cornerstone of the new fascist society Elmer fears is around the corner, not only its visible signs, such as mass compliance with mask mandates and lockdowns, but no less in the atomization based on the denial of our common rationality, a direct consequence of the radical relativism that accepts nothing as valid except individual subjective experience. 

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crime amnesty accountability justice

Covid Crimes and Amnesty, Accountability and Justice

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The victims of casual cruelty, capricious public health diktats and enforcement brutality are owed justice. But what type of justice? It might be helpful to look at examples from the theory and practice of international criminal justice. The sense of justice, fairness and equity is deeply ingrained in human beings.

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focused protection

Focused Protection Is Embedded in our Calendar

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Don’t allow these days to make you sedentary and depressed for this will hurt your well-being, but rather stay spiritually connected in every way possible, including with your loved ones and community. If we survive the winter, let us celebrate the life which we have been blessed with. And let us never let anyone convince us to do otherwise, even if they claim to speak in the name of “public health.”

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public health officials

We Need Mass Resignations 

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Pick your reason for the current outrage: stupidity, ignorance, or craving for power. Any of those should disqualify these people from serving in any capacity related to or associated with public health. Consideration should also be given to firing those who put these people into positions to cause suffering in those they were ostensibly hired to protect.

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World Health Organization

The World Health Organization and Its Holy Days of Obligation 

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Of all organisations, the WHO, with its calendar of Holy Days as an aide memoire, should have recognised how so many aspects of health and well-being interlock, and how fighting an existential war with one pathogen would impact other priorities. It had a sane and proportionate respiratory pandemic plan in 2019. 

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ten principles of public health

Ten Principles of Public Health that Could Save Society

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Much of society’s future will be determined by the motivations and integrity of the public health institutions and their workforce. A lot of humility will be required, but this has always been the case. The world will have to watch and see whether those in the field have the courage and integrity to do their job.

Ten Principles of Public Health that Could Save Society Read Journal Article

Brownstone Institute support

Brownstone, Moral Courage, and the Fight of Our Lives 

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Supporting Brownstone is a way of making a difference and effectively saying: we are not willing to give in and give up. We’ve come too far as societies and people to turn back now. We will not give the keys to the kingdom to Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, Sam Bankman-Fried, much less the New York Times and Mark Zuckerberg. They might seem to have all the money and power but we have something they lack: dedicated moral passion to tell the truth. 

Brownstone, Moral Courage, and the Fight of Our Lives  Read Journal Article