Crush #14 When Facebook came into existence my first thought was, this will be very popular among unusually narcissistic adolescents, maybe teenagers too. I was surprised to learn that people in their twenties were using […]
Category: Blog
Rush Crush
Crush #12 Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins had this to say about the Canadian rock trio, Rush: “I believe when people step back and actually really look at who the great bands were, they […]
Philosophy For Children
Crush #11 Can you get children interested in philosophy? And if you could, would you want to? Some philosophers have written about this, which might surprise you. We’re not surprised when teachers or parents try […]
Can Creative Thinking Be Taught?
Crush #10 There are limits to what a person can teach someone. Everything that’s known can be learned, but it doesn’t follow that it can also be taught. By creative thinking I have in mind […]
The Importance Of Reading Books
Crush #9 Does anyone read books anymore? When I was in high school, I fell in love with books—books about philosophy, psychology, novels, basically whatever the small bookstore in my hometown carried, or a lot […]
Education And Indoctrination
Crush #8 Teachers of nearly every kind are likely to agree that the great nemesis of education is what goes by the name of indoctrination. The agreement tends to end there, however. What is indoctrination, […]
Bring Back The Existentialists
Crush #7 Existentialism was a movement in continental European philosophy that had its heyday in the early to middle decades of the twentieth century. It has since been superseded by some more recent developments, from […]
Why is Bob Dylan The Greatest Songwriter?
Crush #6 Bob Dylan has been called everything from a genius to an enigma, the original singer-songwriter, “the Shakespeare of songwriting,” and “the poet of our time.” Enormous legend has surrounded this artist for over […]
Death For Beginners
Crush #5 How should we think about death? Philosophers have been thinking about this for two and a half millennia. For a topic that’s so elusive, they’ve had a lot to say. Let me focus […]
The Art of Listening
Crush #4 Why is the act of speaking commonly thought more important than listening? As something of a natural listener myself, this has always puzzled me enormously. What is it to listen? Students, for example, […]
