In History, The Past is the Present is the Future
...holds that things inevitably get better over time. “Ethical Manichaeism and anti-utopianism are not inherent features of all retrospective politics but rather result from an underlying philosophy of history that...
Does Law Exist to Provide Moral Order?
In 1959, as a response to what was commonly known as the Wolfenden Report, Lord Devlin, an English judge, delivered the Maccabaean Lecture in Jurisprudence at the British Academy. The...
Do We Actually See Shadows?
As a student, I wondered why the eighth century monk Fridugisus of Tours read the Bible to prove the existence of shadows when he could see shadows on the page....
How South Asian Temple Dancers Fought Moral Reform
...colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Añcukam focused on stories of her predecessors, delved into Hindu philosophy, and ended with her own autobiography. Addressed to fellow devadāsīs, the book documents...
The Anatomy of Melancholy at 400: Still Good Advice
...and Morall Philosophy, Philology, in Policy, Heraldry, Genealogy, Chronology &c.” As Shirilan writes, “The indiscriminate mixture of recreations both physical and intellectual reveals that, for Burton, the mind that ails...
How Veterans Created PTSD
...of this philosophy would be accounting for PTSD’s influence on behavior if those behaviors should result in criminal convictions. In response, veteran treatment courts have cropped up around the country...
Why Climate-Change Geoengineering Feels Wrong
As the world wraps up the international climate conference, which has been called our “last, best chance” to throw the brakes on catastrophic climate change, it’s hard not to wonder:...
The Evolution of the Mad Scientist
...philosophy, which often hosted popular discussions of genius and insanity. In these papers, scientists, philosophers, and physicians provided an evolutionary rationale for associating genius with things like madness, degeneracy, and...
Wang Wei, Poet of Buddhist Emptiness
...exclusively on nature. According to Rafal Stepien, an expert on Chinese literature and philosophy, Wang Wei’s poetic impulse sprang from a deep engagement with Buddhist ideas, particularly the concept of...