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Ever thought about whether the world is there only because you think it is? That’s what George Berkeley meant with his philosophy of idealism. The 18th-century philosopher came up with a pretty wild idea: “To be is to be perceived.” According to him, we don’t find objects, and the world exists separately from our […]
Where did the Sutton Hoo helmet come from? Archaeologists have long agreed that the iconic Anglo-Saxon artifact was likely made in Sweden. But new research—along with a “strikingly” similar archaeological discovery in Denmark—is casting some doubt on the long-held assumption. What Is the Sutton Hoo Helmet? In the late 1930s, English archaeologists […]
Isaiah Berlin had a major influence on 20th-century political philosophy that continues to be felt today through his essay “Two Concepts of Liberty.” In this work, Berlin examines the tension between individual freedom and collective governance. Negative liberty is about being left alone to do what you want; positive liberty concerns having the power […]
After a sell-out stint at London’s Tate Modern, a major Yoko Ono retrospective is hopping across the pond. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago announced it will be the only American institution to host Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind. The exhibition will open on October 18, 2025, and is scheduled to run through February […]
In 221 BCE, King Ying Zheng of Qin conquered the rival warring states and established the Qin empire as Qin Shi Huangdi (The First August Emperor of Qin). The Qin emperor centralized state administration, built an extensive road network, and built the first Great Wall. While the Qin dynasty collapsed in 207 BCE, […]
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LAST OCTOBER I published a short breakdown of four geopolitical ‘schools’ that might shape China strategy under Trump. That piece was a pre-election preview of a much larger report I was writing for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. I published the preview as security: Trump might not win. If so I had better publish something before election day while interest in Trumpworld was guaranteed. Trump won. Interest in GOP debates did not abate. I continued to work on the report. As of this week the full thing is out. You can read it, in all its twenty-page glory, over at the FPRI website. What follows are some of its key points:
Civil rights icon Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, on a motel balcony in Memphis. One of the earliest successes of the civil rights movement was a boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to … Continue reading The Assassination of Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr →
From Dwarfs to Wise Men... What's Up With the Number 7?
Ever thought about whether the world is there only because you think it is? That’s what George Berkeley meant with his philosophy of idealism. The 18th-century philosopher came up with a pretty wild idea: “To be is to be perceived.” According to him, we don’t find objects, and the world exists separately from our […]
Despite its status as one of the most widely known and studied epic poems of all time, Homer’s Iliad has proven surprisingly resistant to adaptation. However much inspiration it has provided to modern-day novelists working in a variety of different traditions, it’s translated somewhat less powerfully to visual media. Perhaps people still watch Wolfgang Petersen’s […]
