I’ve been reading Albert J. Nock’s biography of Thomas Jefferson which is available for free download at Ludwig von Mises Institute. In that book, Nock deals with lines of thought in Jefferson and his colleague, friend of his younger and older years, John Adams. Jefferson (almost) saw the American Constitution as having been engineered to … [Read more…]
In The Liberal Mind, I think Professor Minogue dismisses the query “What is the essence of Liberalism?” for reasons which are proper, but I’ll discuss it anyway because I think it to be one of those ultimately futile lines of inquiry which can lead us to better ways of understanding human nature, especially in its … [Read more…]
Is it surprising to learn there is a Marked Rise in Intensely Sexualized Images of Women, Not Men? It’s funny we live in an age where we’ve learned so much that enriches the traditional understanding that men and women are shaped to their different roles in reproduction and we fail to transfer any of that … [Read more…]
About 20 years ago, a Ph.d. psychologist working for an executive placement firm told me that, out of all the people he’d ever tested or interviewed, I was the one least suited for life in a corporation. Some might say that to be good news in terms of the potential for good moral character, but … [Read more…]
Here’s an article about a mildly interesting finding that low-information voters are more likely than others to vote for the best-looking candidate: Face Value: Looks of Political Candidates Are Key Factor Influencing Low-Information Voters. In more blunt terms, these low-information voters can be described as willfully ignorant and morally irresponsible. I’ll make an impolite request … [Read more…]
I’ve spoken of this issue before but we see a fresh study, Children’s Personalities Linked to Their Chemical Response to Stress, that indicates: Is your kid a “dove” — cautious and submissive when confronting new environments, or perhaps you have a “hawk” — bold and assertive in unfamiliar settings? These basic temperamental patterns are linked … [Read more…]
You travel a path through a story, your life, which is intertwined with a variety of other stories at different levels, all of them coming together in that story which is this world, the growth and development of the Body of Christ in this mortal realm. The path you might prefer to follow will often … [Read more…]
In several weblog entries, starting with A Thomistic Take on Madness and Modernism, I’ve spoken of the insight of the psychologist and polymath Louis Sass that there is an eerie similarity between schizophrenia and modern styles of art, literature, and thought. I’d highly recommend a serious read of Madness and Modernity: Insanity in the Light … [Read more…]
Families with tendencies towards autistic traits tend to cluster in regions with opportunities for the exercise of ‘systemizing’ skills: see the article Diagnosed Autism Is More Common in an IT-Rich Region, Study Finds for a discussion of this interesting yet less than surprising discovery. Specifically: The researchers predicted that autism spectrum conditions (ASC) would be … [Read more…]
I’ve just finished reading Norman F. Cantor’s Medieval History: The Life and Death of a Civilization and the ending pages on the decay of the High Middle Ages brought a few ideas into focus. He spoke of the destruction of the Thomistic “cathedral” of thought by the Franciscan radicals, perhaps outright heretics, led by Duns … [Read more…]