Philosophy ⋆ Page 9 of 40 ⋆ Brownstone Institute

What is the Measure of True Freedom?

Michael J. Sutton / November 10, 2023 / History, Philosophy, Society / 11 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

The measure of freedom in any society is the degree of inclusion for those who stand on the margins, those who linger on the edge, and those who suffer in silence. The potential and eventual realisation of inclusion is evidence of a free society, of genuine enfranchisement for all who seek it. Good rulers take care of those who come under their authority, including those parties on the losing side of military conflicts. Freedom is not achieved by overturning the results of conflict, revising the past, or instilling guilt and shame on the victors.

What is the Measure of True Freedom? Read More »

My Colleagues’ Right to Say Terrible Things

Rob Jenkins / November 10, 2023 / Philosophy, Society / 4 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

What we can’t do is act like censorious leftists, demanding the scalp of anyone who says something we don’t like. Either we’re the side that truly believes in free speech—or else there is no such side anymore.

My Colleagues’ Right to Say Terrible Things Read More »

The US has Lost its First-World Status

Daniel Nuccio / November 9, 2023 / History, Philosophy, Society / 8 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Everything is dirty. Nothing works. But everything’s also more expensive. And oh, by the way, you don’t have privacy anymore.

The US has Lost its First-World Status Read More »

The Munk Debate on the Crisis of Liberalism

Bruce Pardy / November 9, 2023 / Economics, Philosophy, Society / 4 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

In the Munk debate, no one mentioned COVID restrictions. No one mentioned the decline of the rule of law and weaponization of the legal system for political ends. No one mentioned government censorship or media collusion.

The Munk Debate on the Crisis of Liberalism Read More »

Confronting Pandemic Tyranny

Aaron Kheriaty / November 8, 2023 / History, Philosophy, Public Health / 12 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Absent concerted action on our part, our recent past is our foreseeable future, because neither the ideology nor the power-centers profiting from it have changed. At stake in our response is our liberal democracy and our humanity.

Confronting Pandemic Tyranny Read More »

Liberal as a Political Adjective: 1769–1824

Daniel Klein / November 8, 2023 / Government, Philosophy / 2 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Those who favor reform that reduces the governmentalization of social affairs need a name for that Smithian outlook. Whatever name we adopt, it will be abused or stolen by those whose characters and deeds spell the governmentalization of social affairs. We should remember who we are. We should return to the great liberal arc of the last 500 years, rising out of Christendom. There is only one liberalism 1.0. Let’s recover it and stick with it.

Liberal as a Political Adjective: 1769–1824 Read More »

Covid in the Age of Woke

Ramesh Thakur / November 7, 2023 / Philosophy, Public Health, Society / 21 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

I will argue that the spreading dominance of the woke agenda was a key enabling environment in 2020 for the Covid interventions. Wokism is a war on Western civilization. Resisting the Covid tyranny is a war to defend the products of the Western Enlightenment.

Covid in the Age of Woke Read More »

Explaining the Crisis through Jacques Lacan

Bert Olivier / November 7, 2023 / History, Philosophy, Society / 13 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

This account of Lacan’s discourse theory enables one to make sense of the discursive struggles currently occurring in global space. And once one has an intellectual grasp of one’s adversary’s ‘master moves’ in this space, one can better prepare to counter them through the hysteric’s and analyst’s discourses.

Explaining the Crisis through Jacques Lacan Read More »

Banishing Ghosts after the Pandemic

Charles Krblich / November 4, 2023 / Philosophy, Public Health, Society / 4 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Gratitude and its rewarding expression were sorely lacking during the Pandemic. Masks, medicines, and the disease of politics created wide rifts amongst friends and family. Some of the wounds may never heal, but the holiday where we remember our dead is over. Now we move into the season where we give thanks to those still with us.

Banishing Ghosts after the Pandemic Read More »

The Politics of Disdain

Emily Burns,

Aaron Kheriaty / November 3, 2023 / Government, Philosophy, Society / 3 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Political elites made it simultaneously dangerous to utter anything remotely disparaging of some groups and fashionable to trash other groups. Their double standard was a display of power, not hypocrisy

The Politics of Disdain Read More »

Chronicles of an Unvaccinated Leftist

Filipe Rafaeli / November 3, 2023 / Philosophy, Society, Vaccines / 14 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

The prejudice observed against the unvaccinated was far from minimal. It was two and a half times greater than the exclusionary attitudes toward immigrants from the Middle East. Researchers discovered that the unvaccinated were as disliked as individuals struggling with drug addiction and significantly more so than people who had been released from prison.

Chronicles of an Unvaccinated Leftist Read More »

Did Liberalism Fail?

Toby Rogers / November 1, 2023 / Government, Philosophy, Society / 11 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Liberalism unleashes human flourishing and creativity better than any other path in history. But any theory built around the sovereignty of the individual inevitably bumps up against human weakness and human frailty as well.

Did Liberalism Fail? Read More »