Mindfulness is for everybody. It’s scientific. It’s non-sectarian. It’s approved by Silicon Valley. Nearly everyone in American culture knows it: Mindfulness is just plain good for you ..read more

It’s clear, from a scientific viewpoint, that there is no such thing as a true self; yet, in our folk psychology, the self looms large, especially the “true” one, whatever that is ..read more

Where would the art reside when people stopped attending churches? How would people find art? How would artists share their work ..read more

A naturalistic view of of reality ..read more

So. What is liberalism? The Online Etymology Dictionary tells us this: Latin liberalis “noble, gracious, munificent, generous,” literally “of freedom, pertaining to or befitting a free person,” from liber “free, unrestricted, unimpeded; unbridled, unchecked, licentious.” mid-14c., “generous,” also “nobly born, noble, free;” from late 14c. as “selfless, magnanimous, admirable.” Liberal was used 16c.-17c. as a term of reproach with the…  ..read more

The practice of democracy is about problem-solving ..read more

There is a science to misinformation ..read more

There’s a lot of debate about where the idea of liberalism comes from ..read more

As I write this, on Labor Day weekend of 2022, unemployment is at a fifty-year low. Sections of restaurants are closed due to staff shortages; businesses are opening late and closing early due to staffing shortages. Some small businesses are giving up and closing their doors because they can’t find enough people. Why the sudden shortage of labor? As we come…  Labor Day, with Bread and Roses ..read more

There are lots of things to respect and lots of things to criticize about Enlightenment thought. But one thing that often gets forgotten in our contemporary dismissal of the Enlightenment is that criticism of the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment is nothing new ..read more