Interpreting History and Sceptcism

In an email exchange regarding an article in The Hindu regarding secularization and modernization, a friend (call him X) commented: “As far as the article goes ….. I didn’t like it as much. More like the author already has some conclusions and wants to write something to highlight those conclusions.”
Indeed the author already has some conclusions [...]

Political systems and success

In a comment on my previous post “History is not the case against collectivism”, Mark asked
I also just realized, that a system/ideal can be judged from a moral standpoint separately from a history: then is it possible for an ideology that is inferior from a moral standpoint to actually succeed in history?
The question is important enough [...]

History is not the case against collectivism

In an analysis of a newspaper article by David Brooks on China and collectivism, Mark writes
When we consider criticisms of Collectivism, we almost automatically associate it with the past experiences of Communism, Socialism, and Fascism, and how the societies based on these collectivist systems we’ve seen have either failed or stagnated.
…
Taleb calls history a fallacy [...]

Worldviews and the world

American Chronicle has an interview with Jason Miller. In answer to the question “What is that (sic) you consider your purpose on Earth to be?” he says:
It’s multi-faceted and complex, but if I distill it to its essence and put it succinctly, my primary purpose on Earth is to strive for two causes: animal liberation and [...]