Category Archives: Religion

From being to seeming: why empirical scientists failed in times of Covid.

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Paul Frijters

There have long been scientists who were celebrities in their own time. Galileo, Keppler, Goodall, Linneus, Cousteau, Darwin, Smith, Leeuwenhoek, Da Vinci, Ibn Khaldhun, Curie, and many others in the last 800 years were followed and admired. They in many … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Geeky Musings, Health, Life, Philosophy, Politics - national, Religion, Science, Social Policy, Society, Theatre | 15 Comments

May the farce be with you: legal edition

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

Well, well, well. The legal system has bungled its way to releasing a guilty man. Even if George Pell were not guilty of any acts of child molesting (as it was called during most of the time he was doing … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Law, Religion | 84 Comments

6 post-Corona Institutional questions

Posted on March 26, 2020 by Paul Frijters

The mass hysteria of the corona crisis is raging, with the resulting self-isolation of whole economies and populations. The loss seems greater with every new forecast on the economic collapse than I initially thought, and the benefit of imprisoning and … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Climate Change, Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, Health, History, Life, Political theory, Politics - international, Public and Private Goods, regulation, Religion, Science, Social, Society, Terror | 20 Comments

Is it the duty of the state to police a positive national history story?

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Paul Frijters

Something very odd happens when people get told a story of how other people with some shared characteristic have behaved in the past: they take it personal and see themselves in those ‘ancestors’, even if they share no actual family … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Democracy, Geeky Musings, History, Politics - international, Politics - national, Religion, Society | 18 Comments

George RR Martin just reminded us of the horrors of war and our role in them.

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Paul Frijters

Episode 5 of the final season of Game of Thrones showed us a vengeful fallen angle, Daenerys Targaryen, after whom thousands of children in the real world have been named. Even though her enemies had been defeated and surrendered, she … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Democracy, Ethics, Films and TV, Geeky Musings, History, Law, Life, Literature, Media, Print media, Religion, Social Policy, Society, Theatre | 25 Comments

Six tough institutional challenges this century

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Paul Frijters

In 1900, the modern nation states of Europe faced many challenges in terms of how they were run, with poverty and disease still prevalent. The largest problems were more or less successfully addressed by 2000. The road involved world wars … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Environment, Ethics, History, Libertarian Musings, Politics - international, Politics - national, Religion, Science, Social, Social Policy, Society | 38 Comments

How Social Science could be taught. A vision for the future.

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Paul Frijters

[note to self] Economics, sociology, anthropology, history, psychology, and the other social sciences are currently taught in an unorganised manner. The undergraduate degree in any of these disciplines consists of about 20 separate courses that each differ markedly from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Education, History, Political theory, Religion, Science, Social, Society | 27 Comments