News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 03

Some interesting news items this week, a number of which are amusing, in a twisted sort of way.  To get back on the straight and narrow, however, we should adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Scrooge and the Virtue of Being Rich, Part IV

In the previous posting on this subject, we closed by noting that some new ideas had entered the general culture.  As a rule, prior to the middle of the nineteenth century people got rich to be able to live “the good life” (which didn’t mean quite what it meant to Aristotle, who referred to the “good life of virtue”), which required wealth and power to be able to obtain the goods and services that went along with a materially good life.  This meant as soon as they had “enough,” they could stop accumulating wealth, and then sit back and enjoy it.

JTW Podcast: Aristotelian Logic

Today Professor Dave takes a short look at Aristotelian logic, which many consider the “toolkit” for rational thought, based on the first principle of reason, which can be stated in a negative way and a positive way.  Negative (the principle or law of [non] contradiction): “Nothing can both be and not be at the same time under the same conditions.”  Positive (the principle or law of identity): “That which is true is as true and is true in the same way as everything else that is true.”  So, what does Professor Dave have to say about it . . . if anything?

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 02

With the upcoming Inauguration of U.S. President-elect Trump, most news items related to the Just Third Way are in the “what if” category.  Still, there are a few things of note that should turn our minds in the direction of the Economic Democracy Act:

Scrooge and the Virtue of Being Rich, Part III

Continuing our Scrooge Saga, in last week’s posting we asked the eternal question, “How did being wealthy become a virtue?”  The quick answer is that people’s understanding of money changed.  The longer and more involved answer is that people’s understanding of money, credit, banking, and finance changed . . . or, briefly, people’s understanding of money changed . . .

JTW Podcast: Aristotle, the First Scientist

In today’s podcast, we take a look at “the science of science,” of which — as far as we know — Aristotle was the inventor.  Like Professor Dave, Aristotle knew a lot about a lot of stuff.  He had some pretty bad ideas, but that doesn’t mean he was fundamentally wrong or wrong about everything, just that he made mistakes . . . like you’re perfect?

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 01

This is the first new news report for the year, and we unfortunately start the year with sad news.  There is a little about the Economic Democracy Act as well:

Scrooge and the Virtue of Being Rich, Part II

In the previous, Christmas Day posting on this subject, we noted there was a significant difference between Ebenezer Scrooge and the rich of today.  Scrooge, for all his faults — and his unsuspected, if very real virtues! — did not seek wealth as an end in itself.  True, as Dickens portrayed him, Scrooge was —

JTW Podcast: The Roots of Logic

In this week’s podcast we return to “Professor Dave’s” videos on “lots of stuff.”  Today, we look at something that seems in low supply these days: basic logic.  We recall a friend of ours who is a professor of philosophy at a small college who claimed he had to spend most of the semester in his introduction to philosophy course teaching basic principles of logic before he could get to the course matter.  Here, you can get it for free!

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 52

This is the second half of our annual news roundup for 2024.  Again, we’ve tried to pick out what seemed to be the most important news item of each week as it relates to the Just Third Way, sometimes combining two if they were related or about equally important.  As always, the overall objective is to get the powers-that-be (or powers-that-are-to-be) to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Scrooge and the Virtue of Being Rich, Part I

In A Christmas Carol — as if you couldn’t tell from the title of this posting — the Ghost of Christmas Past forces Ebenezer Scrooge to watch as his younger self accepts Belle’s (his fiancée) release from their engagement.  As she gives him her decision (and, presumably, returns the ring, although Dickens didn’t mention that particular bit of jewelry — pronounced “jewel-ry,” not “jew-lery,” by the way), we gain important clues as to Scrooge’s motive for pursuing wealth . . . which is, of course, why Dickens included the scene:

JTW Podcast: All-Robot Attack

No, this is not science fiction.  It’s real life, and it potentially can end the war Russia is waging against Ukraine as soon as the powers-that-be in Russia realize the implications.  Russia’s advantage to date has been using its numerical superiority to overwhelm Ukraine using “meat waves,” i.e., cannon fodder to take casualties (nearly 800,000 so far) and exhaust Ukraine’s defenders.

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 51

This is the first half of our annual news roundup.  We’re trying something different this year, however.  Instead of trying to choose all the important news stories, we’re just picking what we thing may be the most important one from each week as it relates to the Just Third Way.  The overall objective, of course, is to get the powers-that-be (or powers-that-are-to-be) to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but in the meantime:

Is It Really “Too Complicated”?

The halls of justice (or should that be “the howls of justice”?) rang recently with protests to the effect mentioning economic and social justice — at a meeting of the Center for Economic and Social Justice(!) — is “too complicated” and turns people off (“they just roll their eyes”).  The complaints got louder when some of us tried to explain why you just can’t say “you’ll have more money” to explain economic justice and ignore social justice altogether as having been hijacked by the socialists.

JTW Podcast: Professor Dave on Socrates and Plato

Okay, although Prof. Dave uses the word “impactful,” this video is still useful as providing basic background material on two very important philosophers, who — even if we don’t accept their thought in preference to Aristotle — are still important:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 50

This is the last new news report for the year as next week we plan on posting the first half of our annual news roundup . . . which some people actually read!  If you don’t, we can sum up the message for the year as the powers-that-be should the Economic Democracy Act:

Why It’s Not Distributism

A little backstory.  A few years ago, we were asked to prepare an explanation of what we mean by “the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism.”  Even though we are an interfaith group, the request came from an official at the Vatican (not the pope or anyone you know).  We wrote the explanation based on universal principles of natural law applicable to all “natural” faiths and philosophies (mostly based on or compatible with Aristotelian philosophy).

JTW Podcast: Presocratic Philosophy, Part II

This week, “Professor Dave Explains” continues his talk on Greek philosophers before Socrates.  It’s a little abrupt, since Part I was the first half of the lecture and this is the second half, but that’s not really anything to worry about.  So, let’s get down and funky with the Presocratics:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 49

As the year draws to a close, we see increasing numbers of reasons for somebody somewhere to adopt the Economic Democracy Act and lead the way for the rest of the world:

What is the Federal Reserve For, Exactly?

George Will’s November 30, 2024, column asked the question as to what, exactly, is the purpose of the Federal Reserve System.  This is a reasonable concern, especially given the way governments throughout the world have been using their central banks to spend money like drunken sailors on leave.  Unfortunately, although Will pontificated for 750 words or so, it was evident that, while he clearly intended the title of his column to be rhetorical, he himself has no realistic idea of the role or function of a central bank, much less any bank other than a bank of deposit.

JTW Podcast: Presocratic Philosophy, Part I

This week, “Professor Dave Explains” about Greek philosophers before Socrates.  It’s pretty rapid fire, but still informative and (up to a point) entertaining.  As before, personally, we find the use of “BCE” instead of “BC” is annoying, but we’re big enough to let that pass . . . for now:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 48

A lot of news items this week and consequently a lot of arguments to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, so we’ll get right into it:

Union Solidarista Guatemalteca y Costa Rica

It’s not so much a buzzword nowadays, but “solidarity” is still an important concept, and one that often doesn’t mean what people think it does.  To define what we mean by solidarity, we begin with the thought of Pope Saint John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła, 1920-2005, elected 1978).

JTW Podcast: East Asian and Indian Early Philosophical Thought

Here is an additional take on the history of philosophy and logic from “Professor Dave Explains.”  We’re most interested in Aristotelian philosophy, but knowing something about other systems is useful as well.  Personally, the use of “BCE” instead of “BC” is annoying, but so what: