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Do We Have Stable Dispositions?
“Everything is much more complicated. At every moment it is much more complicated. ‘They got married because they fell in love and wanted to share their life’…’he lied because he didn’t want to hurt’. What ridiculous stories! We are stratified creatures, creatures full of abysses, with a soul of inconstant quicksilver, with a mind whose…
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A Bridge Too Far
A Bridge Too Far is a big movie. Every male movie star of the second half of the 20th century has at least a cameo. Redford. Olivier. Caan. Gould. Caine. Hackman. O’Neal. The talent is everywhere. Richard Attenborough directs. And oh my the money they must have spent to film this thing. The parachute drops.…
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13 Assassins
Whichever version you choose to watch of 13 Assassins, you won’t go wrong. The new version is faster, bloodier and more visually striking. The old version has the same great story beats and is even more perfectly Japanese. Not to be missed by anyone who enjoys Samurai movies (and who doesn’t?). (Prime)
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Oppenheimer and the False NON-Equivalency of Hitler and Stalin
False equivalency was a doctrine very much in fashion and not without some reason. Though mainstream journalism has long been a bastion of liberal ideology and has lately become just another armed camp in the great ideology wars, it nevertheless works within a framework and structure that encourages a show of objectivity. That show may…
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Materialism and the Void: The Emptiness at the Heart of Modern Culture
Our culture provides such extraordinary opportunities for rich and interesting lives that it is hard to understand how we mostly end up doing so poorly. Our problem is not opportunity, it is execution. And when it comes to building a good life, not just giving us the tools for it, our culture often works against…
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Reason to Believe & Something to Believe In
Crisis of confidence? Resilience of hope? Springsteen and Clannad (via Mr. Shuffle) offer two hauntingly laments on the seemingly illusory nature of hope, the endless disappointments of life, and the essential challenge we face in finding something to believe in. This might as well be the soundtrack to the latest TW2BR essay on materialism and…
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Intelligent Virtue and the Beauty of Modern Virtue Theories
Virtue theory is the flip side of transformative experience. Though L.A. Paul’s Transformative Experience concentrates on rationality theory and choice optimization, the implications of transformative experience lead directly to some form of virtue theory. If you are choosing between experiences that will change who you are (like going to college or enlisting), you need some…
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The Fabelmans
After the disappointingly bland remake of West Side Story, Spielberg returns to form. Yes, it’s obviously a “late” work in the mold of great craftsmen reflecting on their life and craft, but it has all the classic Spielberg touches: masterly direction, a certain innocence, a genuine love of the craft, and a gift for getting…
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The World’s End
The fitting conclusion to the Cornetto Trilogy, each of which has its special pleasures. But I’ve always loved World’s End the best, perhaps for my namesake – the “King” of Gary’s in film. One mile. Twelve pubs. Twelve pints. And a story of friendship, loss, and what the total absence of personal transformation might look…
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The Virtues of Modern Society for an Ethical Decision-Maker
It’s always fashionable to knock the party you’re at. Our particular party (modern Western culture) does have a lot of problems – and dealing with those problems is very much the subject in hand. Yet it’s neither wise nor truthful to forget about the good stuff, and it’s genuinely important (and encouraging) to realize how…
We are not rational animals, we are animals that must work to be rational
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