The Civilizing Process by Norbert Elias is a seminal work that explores the rise of civilization and the formation of modern society. Elias argues that civilization is a process that involves the gradual domestication of human beings. Over time, humans have become more disciplined and controlled, which has resulted in the development of sophisticated social … Read more
In his book, The Religion of Technology, David Noble argues that our society has become too reliant on technology. Noble believes that this reliance is not only damaging to our individual well-being, but also to the fabric of our society as a whole. In this blog post, we’ll provide a summary of Noble’s argument and … Read more
A Secular Age is a 2007 book by Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor. The book seeks to explain why modernity has been accompanied by the secularization of society, and how this change has affected different aspects of human life such as religion, morality, and politics. The book is divided into three parts: “Disembedding”, “Cross-Pressures”, and “Belonging”. … Read more
Whoever adopted the Epicurean or Stoic way of life and put it into practice would be considered a philosopher, even if he or she did not develop a philosophical discourse, either written or oral. In a sense, Cynicism was also a popular, missionary philosophy. From the time of Diogenes, the Cynics had been ardent propagandists … Read more
Might not Socrates be the prototype for that image of the philosopher so widespread, yet so false-who flees the difficulties of life in order to take refuge within his good conscience? On the other hand, the portrait of Socrates as sketched by Alcibiades in Plato’s Symposium-and also by Xenophon-reveals a man who participated fully in … Read more
Dominion by Tom Holland is the story of Christianity’s influence on the world. The Romans thought that being crucified was the worst possible fate and that it should only be dished out to slaves. How incredible that people could have come to believe that one particular crucifixion victim—an unassuming provincial by the name of Jesus—should … Read more
What are the foundations of its morality, if not a myth? A myth, though, is not a lie. At its most profound – as Tolkien, that devout Catholic, always argued – a myth can be true. To be a Christian is to believe that God became man and suffered a death as terrible as any … Read more
When Krafft-Ebing invented the word ’sadism’ to describe those who took erotic pleasure in inflicting pain, he was implicitly associating the Marquis with inquisitors such as Conrad of Marburg. Even more shocking to devout sensibilities, however, was his analysis of what he termed – after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian nobleman with a taste for … Read more
But Voltaire – baptized into the Catholic Church and educated by the Jesuits, whom he publicly lambasted as power-hungry pedophiles, but privately saluted for their learning – did not take up the cause out of any sympathy for Protestantism. That September, as he was busy preparing his case, a letter arrived which addressed him as … Read more
The Chinese seemed to have no concept either of creation or of a god. Rather than a universe obedient to the laws of an omnipotent deity, they believed instead in a naturally occurring order, formed by constituent elements – fire, water, earth, metal, wood – that were forever waxing and waning in succession. Everything went … Read more