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John Locke
A new, old idea is bubbling up at the nation's cocktail parties.
The idea that "the self is an illusion" has become the bien pensant common sense of the day in many educated circles in the West. I think this is profoundly misguided, but I can see why it seems so compelling. In the English language, nouns label things while verbs label the things that they do. If you mistook this linguistic quirk for a deep philosophical truth then you would of course conclude that the self doesn't exist, because there is no single thing that "I" or "you" refers to. That is because on close examination "I" turns out to be a verb disguised as a noun.
Don't get me wrong: The most immoral prisoner has earned his government-sponsored home. Quite thoroughly. But by treating him in an inhumane manner that extends beyond confinement, we too become all too human. We too commit a moral wrong.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Jefferson believed that the common good and the individual good are interlaced. If so, then society itself suffers right along with the individuals that comprise it when they are left out. In America today, home ownership is increasingly out of reach of ordinary Americans.
As we approach the celebration of America's 239th year of independence, Americans can learn about their revolutionary past from many sources, including an unexpected one: musical theatre.
NOTTINGHAM, England -- A new, rootless oligarchy now combines impersonal technocracy with a manipulative populism, while holding in contempt the genuine priorities of most people.
As I eat dinner with my wife and our two young boys in our home in Winston-Salem, I think about how there might be more childhood hunger in our city than anywhere else in our country. How can we allow that horrific reality to occur in such a wealthy place?
Scientists are not blind to the beauty of the world. When I see an image such as the one taken by the Hubble Space Telescope that was dubbed "The Rose," I believe that I am as capable to appreciate its exquisitely complex elegance as any artist.
My general philosophy is to do some real good in the short run, while learning how to scale that up in the long run -- to the entire planet in maybe 20 years. I'm also very committed to helping people from the bottom up, to give people a break that rarely get one, and to help give a voice to the voiceless.
