Category: Philosophy

In simple terms, cultural hegemony refers to the way in which the powerful shape a society’s norms, values, and other institutions, and how that particular shaping becomes accepted as default, natural, perpetual, and inevitable. That is, people tend to regard the way we currently run things in society as the only way to run things… Continue reading What Dance Moms teaches us about cultural hegemony

A short time ago, I wrote a couple of pieces (I, II) critical of an Evan Soltas’ article about the projected deficits in Social Security and Medicare. In those two pieces, I focused primarily on what I thought was a confused policy position of Soltas. But I also want to address the philosophical ideas surrounding… Continue reading Generational justice is extremely tricky

I do not usually go for political arguments that talk about rights, but I also do not recoil in anger when people make them. I understand discussion of rights is a common language people have, and it helps many people express their ideas. One of the key questions in that discussion of course is what… Continue reading Amartya Sen: what is a human right?

I’ve mentioned before that there was a period when I spent (wasted?) an incredible amount of time studying philosophies of procedural property rights. I call them philosophies of procedural property rights because these philosophies try to justify property rights by appealing to just processes, namely non-aggressive and voluntary processes. As I wrote before, that is… Continue reading More fun with procedural property rights

David Kaib has a friendly response to a post I wrote a few days ago on problems with crafting a successful left moral and political narrative. Boiled down, my point is that the left is awash in dozens and dozens of moral and political frameworks, and that makes it much harder to succeed. Conservatives do… Continue reading Leftist pluralism is different