Tagged: politics

From the Guardian: Welcome to the Age of Anger

December 18, 2016 at 8:30 pm

It seems that any article seeking to explain the recent capsizing of our politics will obligingly run through the explanations we have come to know by broken heart: it was rigged. Actually that is one explanation we unfortunately haven’t heard, since the one who would have made it most vociferously did not lose the election. […]

By Kush Ganatra | Posted in In the News | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Machiavelli’s notion of truth

October 31, 2013 at 10:30 am

Earlier this week we discussed Machiavelli’s potent shock-value. Now, Arts & Letter Daily has linked us to The New Criterion’s post on Machiavelli’s philosophical musings of truth. The claim is that they are just as important as his political work. ALDaily writes: “I depart from the orders of others.” With that, Machiavelli reconceived both politics and philosophy. […]

By mdimov | Posted in Core Authors, Great Personalities | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

What Machiavelli Knew

August 13, 2013 at 8:03 pm

Relating to CC201’s study of Niccolo Machiavelli’s the Prince, is an article discussing his ideas on whether law can supplant politics. Here is an extract: One of the peculiarities of political thought at the present time is that it is fundamentally hostile to politics. Bismarck may have opined that laws are like sausages – it’s best […]

By mdimov | Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

The Future of the Bolshoi Ballet

March 18, 2013 at 3:13 pm

The Core presents an article from The Atlantic discussing the Bolshoi ballet and its changing state. Here is an extract: History and lingering popular sentiments tether the institution to the state more than any other cultural venue, even if ideologically speaking, neither is much use to the other. Though Putin’s own insistence on machismo makes clear […]

By mdimov | Posted in Art, Community, Great Questions | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Mo Yan’s Delicate Balancing Act

February 28, 2013 at 3:50 pm

Sabina Knight writes, in this review, of author Mo Yan’s receipt of a Nobel Prize and the controversy that arisen due this event. Here is a sample: Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for his writing, not for political engagement. This essay thus offers a perspective on his politics based not on a few symbolic […]

By mdimov | Posted in Announcements, Community, General Announcements, Great Questions | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Justifying Coercive Paternalism

February 26, 2013 at 11:58 am

In his compelling article, Cass Sunstein explores the validity of Mill’s ideas on government and the individual. Here is a sample: In his great essay, Mill insisted that as a general rule, government cannot legitimately coerce people if its only goal is to protect people from themselves. Mill contended that: The only purpose for which […]

By mdimov | Posted in Academics, Community, Great Ideas, Great Questions | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Paula Byrne: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and politics

January 25, 2013 at 4:35 pm

The class of CC202 delves into Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Here the Core presents an article looks at that work from another perspective- politics. Here is an excerpt: The Victorians fostered the idea of Austen as the retiring spinster who confined her novels to the small canvas of village life. In more recent times she […]

By mdimov | Posted in Academics, Curriculum, Great Ideas, Great Questions | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Analects of the Core: Locke on laws without authority

October 7, 2011 at 11:23 am

When any one, or more, shall take upon them to make laws, whom the people have not appointed to do so, they make laws without authority, which the people are not therefore bound to obey… [and] may constitute to themselves a new legislative, being in full liberty to resist the force of those, who without […]

By CAS Core Curriculum | Posted in Analects | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Analects of the Core: Aristotle on democracy

December 3, 2010 at 12:30 pm

In anticipation of the debate on democracy being presented in CC101, consider this point made by Aristotle in Politics: In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme. Is there any way this can be critiqued?  Offer your […]

By CAS Core Curriculum | Posted in Analects | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)