Schopenhauer is peculiar among philosophers because he is a pessimist while almost all of the rest are optimists. He is not fully academic like Kant or Hegel, but not wholly outside the academic tradition. He prefers the religions of India, Hinduism and Buddhism, while he dislikes Christianity. He is free from nationalism and his appeal … Read more
The idea that you should tailor the way you learn to the learning style that you naturally gravitate towards has become increasingly popular over time. The Onion poked fun at the idea. They ran a story about parents who were upset their child, a nasal learner, who wasn’t suited to learn new information through traditional … Read more
Good people don’t get rewarded, they don’t get special favors. The only thing that matters is who can survive. If there is a theology that history supports, it is that the world is made up of two opposing spirits: good and evil. Zoroastrianism, Manicheanism, and Christianity all preach that good and evil forces exist, and … Read more
It is not the race that makes the civilization, it is the civilization that makes the people. As we have learned from writers like Jared Diamond, civilizations are not created by people, or by a certain race, but by geographical circumstances. Geography, in addition to the economic and cultural realities that result from it, then … Read more
There comes with technology both curses and boons – this has been true for every technological development throughout the ages. But the detrimental effects of today’s technology are more hidden from us. Let us go back to the past for a moment, to a time when cars were first invented. Then, it was clear for … Read more
The narcissism of small differences was a theory set forward by Freud, it is the idea that communities that are closer together are especially likely to engage in feuds because of hypersensitivity to details of differentiation. But such an idea lacks explanatory power. It simply tells us that what happens, but not why it happens. … Read more
Hegel was one of the most influential philosophers in history. In addition to Protestants and philosophers, Marx borrowed ideas from Hegel. But Russell thinks that Hegel’s doctrines are false. The Law of Non-Contradiction Hegel asserted that the rational is real and the real is rational, “the nature of Reality can be deduced from the sole … Read more
Nature has no use for anything that cannot reproduce abundantly. Nature cares more about the species than the organism. That is why through the struggle of natural selection, quantity has been set as the prerequisite to quality – large litters, big families, the race of a thousand sperms. Nature does not care that a high … Read more
Life is selection. Nature loves difference as the necessary material of selection and evolution. Nature does not care about any political manifesto’s that man has written. To nature, men are not free and is not born equal. Differentiation underlies evolution. Without variation, there is no nature, no complexity. Equality and freedom are at odds. Those … Read more
We usually think that competition is a form of cooperation since all sides must adhere to the laws of the game, but cooperation is also a form of competition, it is a tool for competition. “Competition is not only the life of trade, it is the trade of life – peaceful when food abounds, violent … Read more