The Blind Leading the Blinder

We may have mentioned one or two dozen (or hundred) times how much we like it when people ask us questions we can answer and then use as a posting on this blog.  What we like even better is when someone takes the bull between the teeth or the bit by the horns and writes the entire blog posting for us, with only a little bit of editing and formatting to make it fit our needs.

JTW Podcast: Logic in Late Modern Philosophy

Today, we present Professor Dave’s talk on logic in late modern philosophy.  As Professor Dave says, “How did logic continue to develop as the modern period in philosophy progressed? Mill and Comte discussed the inverse deductive method. But then a huge figure arose, George Boole. He innovated new logical symbology that got us closer to reducing logic to pure mathematics. Then Peirce developed abductive or retroductive logic. Let's get a closer look at these figures now!”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 42

 Believe it or not, there is an alternative to debt and taxes . . . it’s debt or taxes, and for a government, it’s better to go with taxes and live within its means as proposed in the Economic Democracy Act:

The Economic Answer to AI, II: The Spread of the Problem

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted — consistent with the Past Savings and the Sole Ownership assumptions combined with the Labor Theory of Value — most of “the rest of us” in the present day are constrained to wages and welfare for our subsistence.  Government policy has thus been focused on (as one of the founders of the Center for Economic and Social Justice used to put it while mimicking playing a cello) “jawbs, jawbs, jawbs” . . . with no thought as to what was behind the, er, “jawbs.”

JTW Podcast: Logic in Early Modern Philosophy

Today, we present Professor Dave’s talk on (obviously) logic in early modern philosophy.  As Professor Dave says, “With modern philosophy somewhat understood, it's time to pivot and see how logic developed during this time period. First, in the early part of this period, Pascal's wager was an important development, which was followed by the Port Royal Logic. There were also important developments by Kant, Bacon, Hume, Mill, and Llull. Let's see how Aristotelian logic developed during this time!”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 41

Again, much of this week’s news items wouldn’t be news items if the Economic Democracy Act: had been adopted.  Keep that in mind as you read:

The Economic Answer to AI, I: The Problem

 Recently we re-read New America (1983) by the late Poul Anderson, a compendium of four related science fiction novellas tied together into a coherent whole.  It was, as is typical of Anderson’s work, well-written, fitted within known science and social trends at the time it was published, and dealt with serious themes in a thoughtful yet entertaining manner.

JTW Podcast: Late Modern Philosophy Part 2: The Roots of Analytic Philosophy

 Today, we present “Part 2” of Professor Dave’s talk on Late Modern Philosophy, this one on “Analytic Philosophy.”  He doesn’t mention Comte’s reliance on Henri de Saint-Simon and socialist theology (“modernism”), but what the heck.  As Professor Dave says, “We just introduced continental philosophy, so let's take a look at the analytic tradition that arose around the same time, as the modern era was drawing to a close. Of the two schools, this was the one more concerned with philosophy of science and epistemology, which came about through figures like Comte, Spencer, Peirce, and others. Let's get a sense of this school now”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 40

 As usual, much of this week’s news items wouldn’t be news items if the Economic Democracy Act: had been adopted.  Keep that in mind as you read:

Why Economists Reject Binary Economics, VI: “Limited Academic Influence and Institutional Support”

 After a brief hiatus, we are returning to our series on “Why Economists Reject Binary Economics.”  Unfortunately, the reasons the so-called experts refuse to give Binary Economics consideration do not improve with age.  Binary Economics, however, continues to advance and refine its theories and applications and ages like wine, while so-called “mainstream economics” (i.e., Keynesian, Monetarist, and Austrian) continues to degenerate and ages like milk. 

JTW Podcast: Late Modern Philosophy Part 1: The Roots of Continental Philosophy

 Today, we present “Part 1” of Professor Dave’s talk on Late Modern Philosophy.  As Professor Dave says, “Modern philosophy began to approach its final stages in the early 19th century as two important groups began to form. These are the continental and analytic traditions, and these two groups will guide our investigation for the next significant portion of the series. Let's start out by examining the roots of continental philosophy, by focusing on figures like Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Emerson, and Nietzsche.”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 39

 Much of this week’s news items wouldn’t be news items if the Economic Democracy Act: had been adopted.  Keep that in mind as you read:

The Trumpet Must Sound

 Today we have a guest blog from Mr. G.C. Stevenson, a regular reader who was the “prime mover” behind the republication of Fulton Sheen’s “long lost” classic, Freedom Under God.

Fulton Sheen’s Warning for a Nation in Moral Freefall

By G.C. Stevenson

JTW Podcast: Political Philosophy Part 2: Wollstonecraft, Bentham, Mill, and Marx

 Today, we present “Part 2” of Professor Dave’s talk on Political Philosophy.  As Professor Dave says, “We just got an introduction to modern political philosophy, so let's continue by looking at some additional important figures approaching the contemporary era. These are Mary Wollstonecraft, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx. This was a time when humanist ideas began to shape society, as marginalized groups began to seek rights, and critiques of capitalism arose. How did these figures come up with the ideas that would underscore much of the changes to come in the 20th century?”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 38

As has become usual, this week’s news items reflect the chaos of both Keynesian economics and contemporary politics.  Naturally, we think the way to correct the situation is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

What’s So Great About Louis Kelso?

 Louis O. Kelso is today best known as the inventor of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).  Despite the near-total global hegemony of Keynesian economics which assumes nothing can be done unless wealth is concentrated and government must be in charge of everything, the ESOP remains important to broaden the base of capital ownership.

JTW Podcast: Political Philosophy Part 1: Machiavelli, Rousseau, and Smith

Today, we present “Part 1” of Professor Dave’s talk on Political Philosophy.  As Professor Dave says, “With an understanding of the most important movements in modern philosophy, those being rationalism, empiricism, and idealism, we are ready to see how these modes of thought influenced politics, by examining the political philosophy of the era. Key early figures in this time were Niccoló Machiavelli, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Adam Smith, among many others. What ideas were they working with at the time?:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 37

 There seems to be a focus this week on how a combination of AI and Trump’s tariffs are taking jobs.  Naturally, the solution is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, which we may have mentioned once or twice:

The Rich are Different

 Ordinary people’s reactions regarding the possibility of getting the Economic Democracy Act adopted soon — or at all, for that matter — often take the form of asserting “they” won’t go for it or allow it.  And who are “they”?  The rich, the powerful, those who rely on the rich and powerful or want to, or who are afraid of them.

What Would Trajan Do? Part II

 As we saw last week, Ancient Rome had a problem with slaves convicted of crimes doing the work of honest municipal slaves, receiving pay and benefits, and generally causing scandal by taking jobs from other slaves and foreigners.  Still, rather than simply get rid of the illegal slaves (which would have exacerbated the chronic labor shortage), the Emperor Trajan came up with a solution.

JTW Podcast: Idealism Part 2: Fichte, Schiller, Hegel, and Schelling

Today, we present “Part 2” of Professor Dave’s talk on Idealism.  As Professor Dave says, “We introduced the movement of idealism and discussed its most important early proponents, such as George Berkeley and Immanuel Kant. Now let's examine the key figures that were to follow, including Johann Fichte, Friedrich Schiller, Georg Hegel, and Friedrich Schelling. Where did they take these ideas? Let's find out!”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 36

 The global economic and political situation remains such that we could pretty much just run the News from the Network from the previous week, and some people wouldn’t even notice.  If you want to see something different, then, get Congress to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Who Will Own America?

Back at the dawn of the 20^th century, Judge Peter Stengar Grosscup (one of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Trust Busters”) published a series of articles on the importance of ordinary Americans becoming owners of the commercial, industrial, and agricultural productive wealth.  One of these articles was titled “Who Shall Own America?”, published in the December 1905 issue of The American Magazine.

JTW Podcast: Idealism Part 1: Berkeley and Kant

 Today, we present “Part 1” of Professor Dave’s talk on Idealism.  This starts to get into the area of what Catholic social teaching evolved directly to counter; in a sense, Emmanuel Kant did to Protestant Christianity what Félicité de Lamennais did to Catholic Christianity: remove individual intellect and make everything faith-based (to grossly oversimplify).

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 35

 Heavy sigh.  One of the problems with reporting on what is going on economically and how it affects the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism is that the basic situation doesn’t seem to be changing because too many people keep making the wrong assumptions about the way the world really works economically — and only adopting the Economic Democracy Act will resolve the issue: