Detail, Santi di Tito, Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli, ca. 1550.
1,379 words
I had been aware for some time of the phrase “the engineer’s fallacy,” but unaware of its provenance and exact definition. I struck lucky on the ‘net, because this gentleman claims to have invented the phrase, and this short piece repays inspection.
Mr. Kelly’s definition of the Engineer’s Fallacy is pleasingly simple: (more…)
1,893 words
Part 2 of 4
Conventional vs. Postconventional Morals
Europeans will never become tribal and collectivist in the manner and degree of non-Europeans. Having an individual identity, an awareness of one’s inner being, that one’s actions can be causally dependent on one’s free will rather than on preceding events, (more…)
4,217
Part 3 of 3
“You’ll hang higher than Haman!”
Today’s Mad Men, though set in the same era as Advise and Consent, portrays a very different world — in fact, an inversion. (more…)
3,415 words
Part 2 of 3
“Here Punch does a mean trick, very unworthy of his Satanic character. (more…)