Individualism and collectivism represent two opposing ways of looking at society, one in which the main concern is the individual, and one in which the main concern is some kind of group. One might be tempted to believe that only collectivism can have degrees, based on there being different size groups that one could divide…
Philosophy and Morality: Refuting Consequentialism
Moral consequentialism is one of many terms that has a double meaning. Looking it up typically yields fairly reasonable-sounding ideas such as judging the morality of an action based on its results, i.e. utilitarianism. However, there is another meaning to moral consequentialism that you should be aware of, and that is the idea that truth…
As Above, So Below
And as all is one, so one is all. Nearly every religion has some variation of that principle, but there is one in particular that formed around that very principle not just in a theological context, but also philosophical and historical. The military and economic successes of Ancient Athens created a highly prosperous society where men…
Adam Kadmon, Tabula Rasa
There is one theme far more consistent than any other in ancient wisdom: we are not God. We can never know God, we cannot even understand God, and for that very reason, we can never know with any certainty if God is even real. Whatever the nature of God, it is beyond the capacity of humans to…
Philosophy and Political Theory
Given that I have this tendency to write whatever pops into my head, I don't necessarily write articles in an order than makes sense. So, now that I've joined Substack and I have yet to publish anything particularly intellectual on the platform, I figured that today, I would get back to basics and write an introductory…
Slaughtering Sacred Cows: Simplicity
Just because something is a sacred cow doesn't mean it is a bad thing; rather, it could merely be over-rated. Simplicity is one such idea, and I will explain its paradoxical nature from all four sides of the STEM fields. Now then, before I start, if anyone reading this has ever read The Simplicity Cycle…
Synthesis
The man behind the curtain is a priest. The curtain obscures the fact that what you're looking at is a religion, and everyone comes away thinking that it's a "science;" no it's not. - Lewis Barton Well friends, I missed last week's post because I had the flu and I didn't feel like doing anything…
Debunking the Congenial Iconoclast, Introduction
Frauds of a feather flock together. I became aware of the Congenial Iconoclast after seeing him express admiration for the "wisdom" expressed on Bracing Views. The exact comment, left on this post (here's a reblog by Emma Olive, hopefully I'll manage to get some of William Astore's audience to read an opposing viewpoint!) under the…
The Libertarian Strawman
I have started to notice that well over half the time that people spend arguing about ideas is spent explaining what those ideas actually are, because far too many people go into these arguments prepared to knock down a strawman. I recently came across an example that is absolutely hilarious, live version here, archived version…
Misunderstood Ideologies: Cultural Marxism
Oi, Sasha, didn't you already write an entire article summing up Marxism? What gives?! Well, Sammy Strawman, I'm glad you asked. First of all, Marxism is a deep rabbit hole, and I should know, I used to be a Marxist. Why the fuck my family allowed me to go through such a phase despite how…
Sasha V's Sesquipedalian Soliloquies 