Spinoza was the most moral philosopher. He was betrayed by Leibnitz and excommunicated by Jews and Christians. Like Hobbes, Spinoza did not see right or wrong in state of nature. The Sovereign is untouchable. The state should dictate policy. But unlike Hobbes, democracy is natural, free opinion is paramount. Spinoza was most interested in religion and … Read more
In the fourth chapter of The Red Queen, Matthew Syed delves into the idea that adaptation is a never-ending process. He argues that in order to survive and thrive, we must be constantly adapting our strategies and methods to stay ahead of the competition. To illustrate this concept, he uses multiple examples from across different … Read more
René Descartes (1596–1650) is rightly considered the founder of modern philosophy. He is the first important philosopher whose outlook is deeply affected by the new physics and astronomy. While he retains much of scholasticism, he does not accept foundations laid by predecessors, but tries to construct a complete and novel philosophic edifice. This had not … Read more
The Red Queen’s first prophet, Leigh Van Valen, was a devout student of evolution. In 173, he was searching for a phrase to express a new discovery he had made while studying marine fossils. The discovery was that chances that a family of animals goes extinct does not depend on how long that family has … Read more
The first chapter of The Red Queen opens with a discussion of the concept of “red queen” evolution, which is named after Lewis Carroll’s character in Through the Looking Glass. This concept says that species must constantly evolve in order to survive in an ever-changing environment. Ridley then delves into the theory of evolution itself, … Read more
Aside from Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes was a pragmatic political philosopher and even more pragmatic than Machiavelli he was an empiricist who also was mathematical. Aversion is bad. Attraction is good. There is no objective morality, there is no theoretical way of mending two opposing points of view. There is no such thing as static … Read more
Francis Bacon’s most important book, The Advancement of Learning, is remarkably modern. He is commonly regarded as the originator of the saying ‘Knowledge is power’. The basis of his philosophy was practical: to give mankind mastery over the forces of nature by means of scientific discoveries and inventions. He held that philosophy should be separate … Read more
Machiavelli was shocking, but other philosophers would be equally shocking if they were free from bullshit. Such honesty about political dishonesty would have been hardly possible in another age, except perhaps in Greece during the time of the sophists. When Savonarola dominated Florence in his twenties, his miserable end made an impression on Machiavelli, for … Read more
“A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself and for others. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love, and in him, he yields to his impulses, indulges … Read more
Chapter XIII: ST Thomas Aquinas St Thomas’s most important work was the Summa contra Gentiles (1259–64). It tried to establish the truth of Christianity by arguments to a non-Christian, likely a man versed in the philosophy of the Arabs. His other book, Summa Theologiae, is of equal importance, but it assumes the truth of Christianity before … Read more