News from the Network, Vol. 19, No. 01

 Welcome to the first “News from the Network” for 2026.  Unfortunately, that’s all that’s new.  The rest — as you can see — sounds depressingly the same.  What we need is immediate adoption of the Economic Democracy Act, and when that is going to happen is anyone’s guess:

A Short Course in Social Justice, I: What is Social Justice?

Ask anybody.  Go ahead.  We dare you.  For best results, carry a microphone and have somebody pointing a videocam at you and whoever (or whatever) you are asking.  And the question? “What is social justice?”

JTW Podcast: Continental Philosophy Part 3: Existentialism and Postmodernism

Today, we get back to continental philosophy and present Part 3 of Professor Dave’s talk on it.  As Professor Dave says, “We've learned a bit about continental philosophy and the Frankfurt School. Let's continue this thread by examining existentialism and postmodernism. This will include figures like Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, and others”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 52

 For the 2025 Year-End News Roundup we decided to try something different and just take what seemed to be the most significant story from each month . . . more or less, and there is no doubt some valid disagreement regarding our admittedly quick and dirty choice.  Whatever you think should have been selected, however, the most significant story was one that didn’t happen: adoption of the Economic Democracy Act:

It Ain’t Wealth Creation

 It’s not the main point of the article, but it’s worth looking at, anyway.  But first, a few words on what the article, “White House economist says ‘massive refund checks’ are coming to Americans in biggest refund cycle in history,” is about.  As stated in the article, “The present administration in Washington is promising big, beautiful tax refund checks to big, beautiful Americans.  As reported in an article in Moneywise, “President Donald Trump is promising a windfall for millions of Americans — declaring that spring 2026 will bring the ‘largest tax refund season of all time.’ And one of his top economic advisers says the checks won’t just be big — they’ll be ‘massive.’”

JTW Podcast: Contemporary Ethics Part 3: New Deontologies and Moral Concepts

 Today, we present Part 3 of Professor Dave’s talk on Contemporary Ethics . . . which, if you’ve been following all of this, helps explain why the world today seems so surreal.  As Professor Dave says, “To wrap things up with contemporary ethics, let's pivot away from metaethics and look at the development of deontology. To do this, we will look at figures like William Ross, John Rawls, Thomas Nagel, Hilary Putnam, and others”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 51

 Unfortunately, to paraphrase a trivial Christmas song, “Jest afore Christmas we’re as pessimistic as kin be.”  The surreal nature of the news items each week speaks for itself, much of which would disappear or fade away by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Do You Grok Kelso’s “Second Income Plan”?

 It’s a bit of cultural trivia from Robert Heinlein’s 1961 science fiction novel, Stranger in a Strange Land (it’s a Biblical reference), a with-it neologism that never really caught on, but had a certain vogue into the seventies among geeks and others (like us) grouped among the quasi-normal: “grok.”

JTW Podcast: Contemporary Ethics Part 2: Metaethics and New Virtue Theories

 Today, we present Part 2 of Professor Dave’s talk on Contemporary Ethics.  As Professor Dave says, “Continuing with our discussion of metaethics, how did this field develop from Moore's initial proposals? Let's talk about new virtue theories, along with figures like Richard Hare, Bernard Williams, Gertrude Margaret Anscombe, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Philippa Foot, the author of the famous trolley problem”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 50

 Yet again this week the news items are more of the same only more so.  And yet again, the usual solution is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Why America Needs an Ownership Reset

Guy C. Stevenson, Guest Blogger

It is being touted as a groundbreaking achievement . . . it is, however, neither groundbreaking nor really much of an achievement.  Recently, Michael and Susan Dell pledged over $6 billion to fund the “Trump Accounts,” as the proposed government-backed savings program for children are being labeled.

JTW Podcast: Contemporary Ethics Part 1: The Birth of Metaethics

 Today, we present Part 1 of Professor Dave’s talk on Contemporary Ethics, “The Birth of Metaethics.”  As Professor Dave says, “Until the 20th century, discussions of ethics had been centered around Aristotle's virtue ethics, the Kantian/Platonic deontology, or the utilitarian model known as consequentialism. But in the early 1900s, the field of metaethics was born, which was a novel manner to identify how we can discuss ethical subjects in general. What was metaethics all about, and what innovations did it bring? Let's find out!”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 49

 It’s astonishing how each week’s news items resemble those of the previous week . . . Not.  The simple fact is that this is going to keep up until the powers-that-be adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Can It Happen Here? Part II: The Solution

 Last week we took a look at a book with a hook in a nook with a cook.  That in itself is not unusual, even without a visit from Dr. Suess.  We read a lot of books.  We even write a lot of books.

JTW Podcast: More on Language and Meaning in Analytic Philosophy

Today, wondering what happened to Part 2 of Professor Dave’s talk on Epistemology, we present his talk on “More on Language and Meaning in Analytic Philosophy.”  As Professor Dave says, “We've already talked about the linguistic turn in analytic philosophy, so let's return to this school and learn about some more figures in this tradition that followed after Wittgenstein. This will include Donald Davidson, Peter Strawson, and Herbert Peter Grice”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 48

 Although “May you live in interesting times” is probably not an ancient Chinese curse (although it should be), events this week are both interesting and a bit cursed, if that isn’t tangling syntax a bit too much.  In any event, the solution to many of the issues and problems we note this week is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Can It Happen Here? Part I: The Problem

 Recently, a Faithful Reader sent us a copy of “Disappeared to a Foreign Prison” by Sarah Stillman, from the November 24, 2025, issue of The New Yorker.  No, this is not a commentary on the New Yorker article, but on a few thoughts that bubbled up as we read the article.

JTW Podcast: Epistemology Part 1: Quine, Sellars, Gettier, and Putnam

 Today, we present Part 1 of Professor Dave’s talk on Epistemology.  As Professor Dave says, “Having gotten a sense of the continental and analytic traditions in contemporary philosophy, we are ready to examine advancements in the field of epistemology that occurred around that time. Let's see how Willard Quine, Wilfrid Sellars, Edmund Gettier, and Hilary Putnam contributed to this progress.”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 47

 One of these days we hope to have some good news to report, but until someone among the powers-that-be wise up and push for the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act:, we have a sneaking suspicion we won’t be reporting too much good news:

The Meaning and Purpose of Life, IV: The Maker’s Answer

In the first and third parts of this article we — or rather our guest blogger Guy Stevenson — asked questions.  In Part I the question was, “Why do I exist?”  In Part III, the question was, “What is social justice?”  Today Guy gives Fulton Sheen’s version of “The Maker’s Answer.”

JTW Podcast: Analytic Philosophy Part 3: Language and Meaning

 Today, we present Part 3 of Professor Dave’s talk on analytic philosophy.  As Professor Dave says, “Continuing with analytic philosophy, after the Vienna Circle had its influence, the tradition continued and grew into several new areas, inspired largely from Wittgenstein and other prominent figures. John L. Austin developed his theory of meaning through speech acts. Noam Chomsky developed his concept of universal grammar. Let's learn about this and more!”:

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 46

 This week’s news items seem strangely familiar yet at the same time surreal.  Still, the constant theme is how much better most people’s lives could very well be if we would adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

The Meaning and Purpose of Life, III: What is Social Justice?

 Last week we looked at the question of “justice as love.”  This week we look at the question of “social justice”.  This will baffle many people today, because they think they have already answered the question, and the answer they have is that something called “social justice” replaces and transcends both justice and charity as traditionally understood.

JTW Podcast: Continental Philosophy Part 2: The Frankfurt School

 Today, we return to a sequential order and present the second part of Professor Dave’s talk on continental philosophy.  As Professor Dave says, “Pivoting back to continental philosophy, we must discuss a very important movement in this tradition, and that is the Frankfurt School. This group utilized the ideas of Marx and Freud to advance the field, led by figures like Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. Let's see what they were all about!”: