Greetings

Greetings: I've missed all of you! The weeks of seclusion are over and finally I am plunging back ino the world. Was I crushed with boredom? You decide. I woke up every morning and performed the following ceremony: I washed ,I dressed-first one sock, then the other, then my walk,then breakfast-then a rest. When I was finished I was as elated with a sense of achievment as Rembrandt when he finished a painting Then I sat down to decide, which DVD to watch, which podcast to download, which book to read,Then lunch etc.__what a miserable life! Now I am back! Not a moment too soon! Since I've been away the Canadian government almost fell,and the world economy almost collpased. I feel needed.
Marshall Goldstein loved the class!
Tomorrow I will post a revised class curriculum. In recent weeks the west has suffered a heavy blow to its prestige. After years of sermonizing to the rest of the world about how to manage its affairs we are going down the tube, a mere twenty years after the Marxists went down the tube.
Once again west civ has to be reassessed. One of the shocks of recent days is the comeback of the state.Remember that only a few weeks ago tne smart money was betting on "the disappearance of the state" except as a handmaiden of the globalized economy. To day globalization means global panic. The State has been enlisted to save the global economy. A profound change.
We'll discuss this via a video that I will show on Wednesday. On Monday I will open our discussion on "modernity as the Age of Reason" I recommend that we turn to the new technologies that I've been experimenting with(i"ll never catch up to my twelve year old nephew) In this case a wonderful podcast at CBC.ca/ideas/podcasts . called How to think about Science. There you will find a list of interviews conducted with world famous figures conducted by my esteemed friend David Cayley. The most important one for us is the program featuring Christophe Norris and Maragaret Midgley. but the programs with Steve Shapin and another Bruno Bauer are also significant.