Dlittle30

LATEST ARTICLES ( 899 )

• The Moral Force of the US Constitution

  

  Why should we revere our constitution as the fundamental set of political and moral principles underlying our democracy? Is it simply because it was written... Read more

  Posted on 21 November 2020 SOCIETY

• Astounding Assault on Democracy

  

  Donald Trump's attack on the electoral system has gone far beyond normal and evidence-based legal challenges to details about the election and the vote counting. Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2020 SOCIETY

• The Difference Between "apartheid" and Apartheid

  

  I am spending several weeks in one of my courses on the struggle in South Africa to bring the apartheid system to an end. This is a struggle many of us... Read more

  Posted on 18 November 2020 SOCIETY

• Thirteen Years of Understanding Society

  

  This month represents the end of the thirteenth year of publication of Understanding Society. Since 2010 the blog has received 11,874,515 pageviews. Read more

  Posted on 09 November 2020 SOCIETY

• The 2020 Election

  

  There is something encouraging about the health of American democracy on Election Day, 2020. That is the passion for our democracy that so many millions of US... Read more

  Posted on 06 November 2020 SOCIETY

• Issues of Ethics in Philosophy of History

  

  Most writings in the philosophy of history have focused on issues of epistemology, method, and explanation. But our history as human beings is thoroughly... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2020 SOCIETY

• Slipping Towards Authoritarianism

  

  Many observers have raised concerns about the direction that American politics has taken in the past decade, and especially since the election of 2016. Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2020 SOCIETY

• An Allegory for the Philosophy of History

  

  What is the role of history and narrative for human beings and peoples? What do we gain by learning of "our" past and the often horrendous crimes that we human... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2020 SOCIETY

• Orwell on Revolutionary Spain

  

  Barcelona barricade, 1937Spanish Civil War poster (UC San Diego Library)It is very interesting to reread George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia (1938) after a gap... Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2020 SOCIETY

• Theories of Authoritarian Personality

  

  A key problem faced today by liberal democracies throughout the world is the fact that millions of citizens in those democracies seem to support parties and... Read more

  Posted on 14 October 2020 SOCIETY

• The Moral Emotions of Liberal Democracy

  

  Recent discussions in a class on democracy and the politics of hate (link) have been very stimulating and thought provoking. We have spent several weeks... Read more

  Posted on 02 October 2020 SOCIETY

• Marc Bloch's Phenomenology

  

  Marc Bloch's Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It is challenging to read, in... Read more

  Posted on 28 September 2020 SOCIETY

• Marc Bloch's Philosophy of History

  

  Marc Bloch wrote The Historian's Craft: Reflections on the Nature and Uses of History and the Techniques and Methods of Those Who Write It. after the defeat of... Read more

  Posted on 20 September 2020 SOCIETY

• The Uyghurs and Cultural Genocide

  

  In the last several weeks I've been thinking a lot about the twentieth century and its unimaginable crimes against humanity on an almost inconceivable scale. Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2020 SOCIETY

• Mass Murder in the Borderlands

  

  The facts of mass murder in eastern Europe in the 1930s through the 1950s are simply too horrific to fully absorb. These decades include the mass killings of... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2020 SOCIETY

• The Gulag

  

  The ruthless authoritarianism and tyranny of Stalinist rule depended on a leader, a party, and a set of institutions that worked to terrorize and repress the... Read more

  Posted on 05 September 2020 SOCIETY

• Analytic Philosophy of Meaning and Smart AI Bots

  

  One of the impulses of the early exponents of analytic philosophy was to provide strict logical simplifications of hitherto vague or indefinite ideas. Read more

  Posted on 03 September 2020 SOCIETY

• New Thinking About European Genocide and the Holocaust

  

  Image: names of Holocaust victimsIt sometimes seems that some questions in history are resolved, finished, and understood. At various times the industrial... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2020 SOCIETY

• Rational Life Plans and the Stopping Problem

  

  Image: a poor solution to the stopping problemIn earlier posts I discussed the question of "rational plans of life" (link, link, link, link) and argued that... Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2020 SOCIETY

• Are Randomized Controlled Trials the Gold Standard for Establishing Causation?

  

  The method of randomized controlled trials (RCT) is often thought to be the best possible way of establishing causation, whether in biology, or medicine or... Read more

  Posted on 24 August 2020 SOCIETY