..read more

Roman law was centralized law, but with the fall of Rome beginning at the time of St. Augustine (AD 354-430), Western Europe witnessed the disintegration of all things centralized, unlike the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, Byzantium, which persisted for yet another millennium, until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.  Spurred on by invasions of Germanic and other tribes, what was considered ‘local’ came to be the focus of society in Western Europe.[1]  Any impetus to centralization that persisted could only be found in the Papacy, which encouraged a collective sense of belonging ..read more

In these pages I have written previously of how Trump – who, with the help of Steve Bannon - aims to “deconstruct” the American rule of law.  “Deconstruction” is a term massively popularized by Derrida and his many followers, and it served as a left-wing surrogate for Marxism while that particular ideology waned under the revelations of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, first translated in 1974.  With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, Derrida’s anti-authoritarian “deconstruction” became de rigeur in academic circles, particula ..read more

Having spent a year with Adrian in Leipzig, I know how he lived during the other three of his stay there; his manner of life being so regular and conservative that I found it rigid and sometimes even depressing.  Not for nothing, in that first letter, he had expressed his sympathy for Chopin’s lack of adventurous spirit, his ‘not wanting to know.’  He too wanted to experience nothing, see nothing, actually experience nothing, at least not in any obvious sense of the word.  He was not out for change, new sense impressions, distraction, recreation.  As for the last, he liked ..read more

The Editor: My fundamental question: Are mental-health services equally available across the country? Ontario has the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Its apparent equivalent here, the BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, struggles for name recognition both within the province and nationally (I hadn’t heard of it until recently). Will a person with an “irremediable” mental illness in Saskatchewan or Prince Edward Island find the same psychiatric resources as someone located in, say, Hamilton, a major university city? Why seek an escape clause for mental illness without thinkin ..read more

  Before the Reformation – most notably before Martin Luther – the medieval Catholic church came to accept gifts of money, or Indulgences, from peasants and religious men in return for salvation, also known as blessedness in Heaven.  The above engraving illustrates such activities by the Pope while holding an audience. What, may I ask, is the difference between the above scenario and our present-day universities known to be so highly dependent on revenue from exorbitant external student fees?  Just like the medieval Church, Canada's universities today see themselves as offering ..read more

As an undergraduate I was fascinated by the idea of history as “becoming”.  At the time, the future seemed open-ended and life undetermined, that is, if we could only ignore the Cold War.  Whatever was considered as ‘present’ moved on with a sense of restlessness, certainly far more so now considering the immediacy of our digital and ‘global’ world fixated as it is on things at the moment.   But in my history classes at the time, I began to think – and maybe was invited to think - of the French and Industrial Revolutions as having unlocked the floodgates to this never-endin ..read more

  'The Thinker on the Butte de Warlencourt' (1917) Bombed last night, bombed the night before, Gonna get bombed tonight if we never get bombed no more When we’re bombed we’re scared as we can be, Oh God damn the bombing planes from Germany. They’re over us, they’re over us, One shell hole for the four of us. Glory be to God that the three of us can run, Cause no one of us could fill it all alone. Gassed last night, gassed the night before, Gonna get gassed again if we never get gassed no more. When we’re gassed we’re sick as we can be, Cause phosgene and mustard gas are much too much for ..read more

XXXIX. Four species of idols beset the human mind, to which (for distinction’s sake) we have assigned names, calling the first Idols of the Tribe, the second Idols of the Den, the third Idols of the Market, the fourth Idols of the Theatre.   XLI. The idols of the tribe are inherent in human nature and the very tribe or race of man; for man’s sense is falsely asserted to be the standard of things; on the contrary, all the perceptions both of the senses and the mind bear reference to man and not to the universe, and the human mind resembles those uneven mirrors which impart t ..read more

Returning now to the discussion of the authoritarian character, the most important feature to be remembered is its attitude towards power.  For the authoritarian character there exist, so to speak, two sexes: the powerful ones and the powerless ones.  His love, admiration and readiness for submission are automatically aroused by power, whether of a person or of an institution.  Power fascinates him not for any values for which a specific power may stand, but just because it is power.  Just as his “love” is automatically aroused by power, so powerless people or institutions ..read more