Abridged Version
Americans cannot trust each other to do the right thing, and for a good reason. If factory owners maintained safe working conditions with competitive pay, then explain the purpose of labor unions. As political philosopher Thomas Hobbes writes in Leviathan, “And because the condition of man… is a condition of [war] of every one against every one, in which case every one is governed by his own reason, and there is nothing he can make use of that may not help unto him in preserving his life against his enemies” (Hobbes 1651,106). Indeed, American Capitalism thrives on a…
John Field and Plato’s Cave: A Second Glance at the Images on the Wall.
“Poor John Field! — I trust he does not read this, unless he will improve by it, — thinking to live by some derivative old country mode in this primitive new country, — to catch perch with shiners. It is good bait sometimes, I allow. With his horizon all his own, yet he a poor man, born to be poor, with his inherited Irish poverty or poor life, his Adam’s grandmother and boggy ways, not to rise in this world, he nor his posterity, till their…
Every living thing on Earth dies. It might seem trivial to make such a remark, but individuals do not readily accept death as a part of life. For decades, many have struggled with the abstract idea that one day they too will die. As Leo Tolstoy wrote in “ The Death of Ivan Ilych,” “…Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal — had seemed to him all his life correct only as regards Caius, but not at all as regards himself” (Tolstoy 121). …
“It’s happening now, man! We’re turning into aliens, and that’s insanely awesome!” Tommy took a hit. He held it inside then released a thick white cloud into the interior of his car. “We’re evolving into super-humans,” he continued. “Omnipotent, omniscient rock stars of the Galaxy! That’s freakin’ awesome, man!”
“We won’t live to see it,” Jake mentioned.
“Doesn’t matter, man…We already know it’s happening.”
Some people see a face on the moon, but Jake wasn’t one of them. He reclined his head backward and peered through the car’s moonroof. A grey crater that shined blindingly against the stars, that’s what…
