Philosophy
Alasdair MacIntyre
First Principles, Final Ends, and Contemporary Philosophical Issues
by Alasdair MacIntyre
Marquette University Press
69 pages; $15.00
A With Both Hands Mini-Review
Alasdair MacIntyre's First Principles, Final Ends, and Contemporary Philosophical Issues was the Aquinas lecture in 1990 at Marquette University. This is related to his argument
When Calvins Collide
With perfect timing given my just posted review of I, Robot, I get this in email from an old friend:
When Calvins Collide!
1. A robot may not be predestined to suffer damnation, or, through inaction, allow itself to be predestined to suffer damnation.
2. A robot is predestined to
Dorothy Sayers on Education
Dorothy Sayers wrote a brief essay on education in 1947, the Lost Tools of Learning. I have observed that her ideas are about as welcome as Charles Murray's, but for a different reason. In Real Education, Murray rightly criticizes the idea that schooling was better in America in
Peace academies
A quote I often find myself pondering from one of my favorite Jesuits, James V. Schall:
Often, when I am informed about yet another academic "program" of "peace studies," I remark -- to be provocative -- that the only "peace academies" in this country
The 50 Worst and 50 Best Books of the XXth Century
I have often pored over the list of the 50 worst and 50 best books of the twentieth century by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. I'm sure that many people could find a favorite book on the worst list, but I maintain that the list is fundamentally sound because
Real Education
One of the best books I have read recently on education is Charles Murray's Real Education. Murray lays out four principles that ought to be clear, but very much are not, and lie at the root of the problems in education. I try in my own small way