History
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Letter from TOS Reader Burgess Laughlin
TOS Admin January 9, 2007
To the Editor: Various TOS articles by Dr. John Lewis have helped me identify the essential nature of the current "War on Terrorism." One shouldn't be surprised that an entity's actions follow from the entity's nature. As a political entity, the USA is a welfare state. It is taking various…
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
“No Substitute for Victory”: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism
John David Lewis November 20, 2006
Consults historical precedent to evaluate America’s response to the attacks of 9/11. Considering key historical attacks against America, along with her responses to those attacks, Lewis highlights the moral and practical issues involved, and draws vital lessons that Americans must grasp and apply in the current war—if we want to win it.
History, Philosophy
The Tragedy of Theology: How Religion Caused and Extended the Dark Ages
Andrew Bernstein November 20, 2006
Critiques Rodney Stark’s best-selling book The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. Bernstein’s analysis proves Stark’s thesis to be historically false and philosophically impossible. The fundamental factor that led to freedom, capitalism, and Western success, Bernstein shows, was not the Christian, scripture-based approach of applying “reason” to the goal of understanding “super-nature,” but rather the Aristotelian, observation-based method of applying reason to the goal of understanding actual nature.
History, Politics & Rights
Why I Will Not Vote for Any Republican
John David Lewis October 29, 2006
In the upcoming election, I will not vote for any Republican. My reasons are based on those offered by philosopher Leonard Peikoff, and I agree with him completely. A straight Democratic vote in this election is the only rational choice I can make. I would not, however, vote Republican today…
History, Reviews
Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens
TOS Admin September 28, 2006
A new book, Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens (London: Duckworth, 2006) deals with the poetry of perhaps the earliest political thinker in history, Solon of Athens. Selected as Chief Official in Athens in 594 BC, he is often credited with laying the groundwork for the political constitution…
History, Politics & Rights
A Talk by Dr. John Lewis
TOS Admin September 19, 2006
When: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 7:30pm–10pm Where: New York University, Kimmel Center, Room 914, 60 Washington Square South NY, NY 10012 Five years after Manhattan was viciously attacked by Islamic holy warriors, the world is still held hostage to their rants and their bombs. Iraq is in turmoil, Syria is…
Arts & Culture, History, Philosophy
19th-Century French Painting and Philosophy
Dianne Durante August 20, 2006
Examines the relationship between art and fundamental philosophic ideas by considering the Kantian notion that man cannot know reality by means of reason—a notion that became increasingly prevalent over the course of the 1800s—in connection with the works and words of 19th-century French painters and art critics, who, correspondingly, became increasingly hostile to reason over the same period. The article is accompanied by fifty-eight color images of the paintings discussed, which range from the sublime to the grotesque.
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Gay Marriage and Rights vs. Democracy
Alan Germani July 11, 2006
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the rights of homosexuals can be violated by majority vote. This Reuters piece reports that a popular vote on the issue of gay marriage could occur in 2008. Such a vote would place the rights of Massachusetts homosexuals at the mercy of…
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
On a Deluded America
John David Lewis June 28, 2006
Diana West has written a fiery op-ed that, on its face, seems to provide a well-needed antidote to the moral platitudes that are preventing America from ridding the world of savage brutes ("Deluded America," Washington Times, June 23, 2006). Certainly the defenders of America will be energized to read: If…
History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Terrorism and the Koran
John David Lewis June 11, 2006
Many people in the West maintain that the Koran is opposed to terrorism: the initiation of violence against unarmed civilians to incite terror for a political cause. To many westerners, Bin Laden, et al are motivated by a totalitarian political ideology, not by Islam, and are "hijackers" of Islam, not…