Optimistic Vs. Pessimistic Views of History: Which Wins Out?

I learned that a former neighbor, Doris Flexner, wrote a strong-selling book, The Optimist's Guide to History, published in 1995. But typical of human nature, it wasn't as popular as her previous book, The Pessimist's Guide to History, a "Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem," published three years earlier. That one was a bestseller. …

The American Century, From the 1940s to ?

My friend Bruce Johnson writes: "American civilization reached its zenith in the 1960s and 1970s. American music and American literature and American art were taken seriously all over the world.  American architecture and engineering arguably dominated the world. People all over the world listened seriously to the speeches of American politicians not just to predict what …

Applying the Philosophy of Roman Historian Boethius to Contemporary Times

Reflecting on the beliefs of the Roman historian Boethius in a wheel of fate and fortune and applying it to 20th and 21st-century history, my friend Bruce Johnson wrote in an email: Britain in the 1950s and 1960s felt angst over the loss of its once dominant World Power position. France felt a similar pain over …

Roman Historian Boethius Explained the Fate of Nations and Empires

The Roman senator, consul, and historian Boethius (c. 480–524 AD) explained the fate of nations, empires, and societies more than a millennium and a half ago in his immortal treatise On the Consolidation of Philosophy. My friend Bruce Johnson explained in an email: The ups and downs of secular cultures are controlled by "the wheel of …

Two (Not Three) Cheers for the French Revolution

Persuasion is a Substack community that seeks "to persuade, rather than to mock or troll, those who disagree with us" and believes that "a free society is worth fighting for." It posts a defense of the French Revolution by Cathy Young, a Russian-Jewish-American writer for The Bulwark. "Americans misunderstand France’s important—and complicated—place in the history …

Chinese General Sun Tzu – The Art of War Explained In 5 Minutes

The Life Guide: "The Art of War is the most influential treatise on war ever written, consisting of 13 chapters each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has shaped the way in which conflicts have been fought for thousands of years from the Japanese samurai to the Napoleonic war. Not only …

Conservatism’s Origins in England

And the dilemma facing traditional American conservatives in 2024. By Bruce Charles Johnson. "Conservatism as a social and political philosophy is the creation of two great  English geniuses, Edmund Burke and Samuel Taylor Coleridge....Both the great English liberal John Stuart Mill and the great American historian Clinton Rossiter viewed Coleridge as the true founder of authentic modern conservativism." More on Substack. 

Wisdom From the Life of a 109-Year-Old Neighbor. What the Writer Learned From Him

The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David Von Drehle, a writer for The Washington Post, is excerpted in the newspaper, with reflections that include philosophy. Charlie lived half the history of the US. Like everybody else, Charlie experienced tragedy, beginning with the death of his father when …

Hobbes Vs. Locke: Two Philosophers Compared

Tom Richey: "Timestamps: 02:11 - Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan) 09:33 - John Locke (Two Treatises of Government) 13:00 - Compare/Contrast with Graphic Organizer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2LVcu01QEU "Mr. Richey discusses the works of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, two of the most influential philosophers of government in the seventeenth century. Hobbes and Locke were both influential in the development …

Human Views of Politics Evolve Over the Course of Lifetimes

One of the first and one of the greatest philosophers on politics was Aristotle (384-322 BC). His views are well-worth re-reading and trying to apply to contemporary politics. (Click on the links.) He is often described as the first political scientist, who attempted to categorize, quantify and predict human behavior on politics. Recognizing the difficulty …