Dlittle30
I am a philosopher of social science with a strong interest in China and Southeast Asia. Paying attention to the logical and conceptual issues raised by the social sciences is key to better understanding the modern world. I think philosophers need to interact seriously and extensively with working social scientists and historians if they are going to be able to make a useful contribution.
MY BLOGS
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Understanding Society
http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/
Innovative thinking about social agency and structure in a global world
LATEST ARTICLES ( 863 )
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Resisting Authoritarian Populism
The rise of an organized effort to create an authoritarian right-wing government in the United States is palpable. Unhinged Republican elected officials call fo... Read more
Posted on 14 August 2022 SOCIETY -
Can We Avoid Catastrophe?
The three greatest threats we face today seem almost insurmountable. They include global climate change, whose consequences are potentially catastrophic for... Read more
Posted on 07 August 2022 SOCIETY -
The Growing Risk of Authoritarian Rule in the US
Thomas Edsell's piece in the August 3, 2022 New York Times offers a truly chilling view of the plans currently underway by Donald Trump and his supporters for... Read more
Posted on 03 August 2022 SOCIETY -
Is There a Working Class in the US?
There is certainly a working class in the United States, and it is a majority of the population (persons who earn their livelihood through wage-paying... Read more
Posted on 30 July 2022 SOCIETY -
Gross Economic Inequalities in the US
An earlier post (link) highlighted the growing severity of inequalities of wealth and income in the United States, as well as Elizabeth Warren's very sensible... Read more
Posted on 26 July 2022 SOCIETY -
English Socialism
What were the social conditions that led many English intellectuals in the 1930s to engage in fundamental critique of the society in which they lived? Read more
Posted on 11 July 2022 SOCIETY -
HB Acton's Version of Marxism
H. B. Acton gained celebrity with the publication of Illusion of the Epoch in 1955, supposedly as a serious philosopher's even-handed exposition of the... Read more
Posted on 07 July 2022 SOCIETY -
Sidney Hook's Theory of Education in a Democracy
Philosopher Sidney Hook is best remembered for his debates with other philosophers and engaged political figures about Marxism and Communism (link). Read more
Posted on 04 July 2022 SOCIETY -
A 1934 Debate About Communism Among American Philosophers
The appeal of Marxist socialism -- communism -- as an alternative to the consumerism, inequality, and exploitation of European and American capitalism was a... Read more
Posted on 02 July 2022 SOCIETY -
Paradigms, Conceptual Frameworks, and Denkkollektive
Image: Ludwik Fleck as prisoner / scientist in BuchenwaldAn earlier post opened a discussion of the "historical turn" in the philosophy of science in the early... Read more
Posted on 28 June 2022 SOCIETY -
Social Embeddedness of Scientific and Intellectual Work
How do complex, socially embodied processes of cultural and scientific creation work? (I'm thinking of artistic traditions, scientific research communities,... Read more
Posted on 26 June 2022 SOCIETY -
The GOP Descent into Right-wing Authoritarianism
In December 2020 I reviewed Hannah Arendt’s analysis of totalitarianism in The Origins of Totalitarianism (link) to try to assess the damage and threats... Read more
Posted on 22 June 2022 SOCIETY -
Philosophy After the Holocaust
The sustained, extended atrocities of the twentieth century -- the genocide of the Holocaust, the Holodomor, totalitarian repression, the Gulag, the Armenian... Read more
Posted on 15 June 2022 SOCIETY -
Dysfunctions of Soviet Economic Ministries
In my book A New Social Ontology of Government (2020) I tried to provide an analytical inventory of the sources of "dysfunctions" in large organizations and... Read more
Posted on 04 June 2022 SOCIETY -
Soviet Atrocities in Ukraine, 1941
In light of the horrific information now available about atrocities committed in Ukraine by occupying Russian forces in towns such as Bucha -- rape, torture,... Read more
Posted on 01 June 2022 SOCIETY -
Infrastructures of Evil
Politicians, generals, corporate directors, and ordinary men and women had a direct relationship to the evils of the twentieth century. Read more
Posted on 26 May 2022 SOCIETY -
How Will Russia's Fascist Aggression End?
Ukraine has demonstrated a truly singular level of competence and commitment in its armed resistance to Russia's war since February 24. Much credit goes to... Read more
Posted on 22 May 2022 SOCIETY -
Incitement of Violence by Far-right Media Networks
The sickening tragedy of Buffalo yesterday -- the racist attack on a group of African-American shoppers and workers by an 18-year-old white supremacist man in... Read more
Posted on 15 May 2022 SOCIETY -
Злі Наслідки Тоталітарних Ідеологій
[This entry provides Ukrainian and Russian translations of a recent post on totalitarian evil offered as a gesture of support for potential Ukrainian readers.... Read more
Posted on 12 May 2022 SOCIETY -
Evil Consequences of Totalitarian Ideologies
It is evident that human beings create evil; but human beings are often driven and dominated by totalitarian ideologies that make great evils possible. Read more
Posted on 08 May 2022 SOCIETY