This article is a good summary of the "Machiavelli problem.It provides (a) a good summary of his life and experience(b) and raises the question I try to raise in class which is can we live with Machiavelli? Can we live without him. His means are ruthless but his end..a stable democratic republic.Do we have to become monsters to face monsters. I am wary of Machiavellis and I am suspicious of people who reject him outright.
posted by louis @ 4:55 AM
1 comments
John Gray is an important political scientist who believes that so far as the west is concerned the jig is up -it no longer runs the show and because of the destruction of the environment and the emergence of religious extremism the show may be over. Though This article is about one crisis his books and academic articles are more general and provide an excellent source of essays
posted by louis @ 2:25 PM
1 comments
Here is a link to determinism article I mentioned in class determinism
posted by louis @ 1:24 PM
1 comments
Eager to start writing again , I hit upon tne idea of starting A blog and calling it cogito ergo sum. For years I have been fascinated by a famous episode in Descartes Life. He decided to take R and R from military service for a few days to sit in front of a fire place,review everything he thought he knew,subject himself to a bath(closer to a tsunami) of scepticism, to see what he came up with that was immune to doubt. Finally it was "I think therefore I am". I have always found this result a bit lame but I have been fascinated by the process. I am also fascinated by the procedure attributed to the British historian, Keith Thomas whereby he took notes at random, put them in appropriate envelopes and when one became thick enough, he reviewed it more systematically. I will do the same on a variety of subjects, religion, politics, film etc until I reach summary statements. This will be useful to me even if no one reads anything I write here.
