Bryan Magee (1930 – 2019) has had a multifaceted career as a professor of philosophy, music and theater critic, BBC broadcaster, public intellectual, and member of Parliament. He has starred in two acclaimed television series about philosophy: Continue reading Bryan Magee: The Agnostic
Monthly Archives: February 2021
Will Durant on Youth and Old Age
Will Durant wondered if there is something suggestive about the cycle of a human life that sheds light on its meaning, a theme explored in his 1929 book The Mansions of Philosophy. (Later retitled The Pleasures of Philosophy.) He admits that “life is in its basis a mystery, a river flowing from an unseen source; and in its development an infinite subtlety too complex for thought, much less for utterance.” Continue reading Will Durant on Youth and Old Age
Philosophers on Hope
A rose expressing hope, at Auschwitz concentration camp
In previous posts (here and here), I’ve been discussing hope, and I’d like to now briefly summarize the standard account of hope among professional philosophers.1 Here’s how the discussion of hope begins in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Continue reading Philosophers on Hope
Freedom House
Eleanor Roosevelt with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1949
A number of readers have asked me to update my Best Countries to Live In list. While I haven’t been able to update every index, I have added the Global Freedom Scores produced by Freedom House and incorporated those scores into the overall rankings. The Global Freedom Scores rate people’s access to political rights and civil liberties Continue reading Freedom House
My Hardest Classes
Here is my response to the question, “what are the hardest classes you ever took or taught?” Continue reading My Hardest Classes