Here in the English speaking world, we’re all familiar of the tale of the city mouse and the country mouse: the city mouse invites the country mouse to his house. While containing riches beyond the country’s mouse’s dreams, it also contains terrifying dangers, like the cat. In the end, the country mouse decides his own …
Continue reading ‘City vs Country- an Epicurean perspective’ »
A few weeks ago, the Spanish region of Catalonia held an independence referendum. The region’s distinct language and culture, as well as its prosperity relative to the rest of Spain, has made independence an enticing prospect for centuries. Moreover, the repression of the Catalan way of life under Franco has only increased animosity against the …
Continue reading ‘Some brief thoughts on Catalonian independence’ »
N.B this isn’t a subject I know a huge amount about. But since I was recommended to write about it awhile ago, I’m going to give it my best shot. Also bear in mind that this is very much from a Western perspective. The rise of China is a very contentious subject in the West, …
We’re a big fan of moderation here on the Epicurus Blog. In fact, it’s one of our core values, as you can see on the banner above. Epicurus stressed that avoiding excess was a key aspect of achieving happiness, and we wholeheartedly agree. Thus, we reject rigid dogmas and are generally utilitarian in our ethics …
I used to post long articles on British politics on this blog. I haven’t in awhile, and a lot of inner rage has built up in the meantime. So even though I’ll try to be as concise as possible, I have an awful lot to say. Prior to the UK General Election this year, after much …
Just a short one today, I’ll be back with my usual-length posts on Sunday. Also note that I know virtually nothing about the NFL. For those of you who don’t know, Kaepernick is an American football player, who has recently caused controversy by kneeling when the national anthem is played at football games. Trump has …
Wagner’s Law is the simple idea that as an economy develops, state spending as a proportion of that economy rises. This is due to the electorate demanding a standard of social services the market cannot provide. With a society’s increasing wealth, widespread destitution, inadequate pensions, a lack of good schools and a backward military become …
Contrary to the insinuations of the American Right, most US liberals are not anti-patriotic, or even unpatriotic. The vast majority are proud Americans. Where most sensible people draw the line is between American patriotism- a simple affinity with the American state and its people- and American Exceptionalism, or the belief that America is uniquely important …
Apologies for posting this late, I’ve been very busy all day. This will be the last of the Best of the Week series for the time being. It has been really enjoyable and interesting responding to various news articles, whether briefly to a selection of articles, or analysing one or two in more detail. But …
Continue reading ‘Best of the Week #14 A friendship with Iran’ »
Yet another of my Modern Philosophy posts, this one inspired by my recent travels to Sweden. I’m going to continue with this series for the time being. Hope you enjoy! In 2016, Bernie Sanders ran a passionate and determined campaign for the Democratic nomination. He did so with very few endorsements from Democratic figures and …
Yet another of my modern philosophy posts. This completes my take on the three main monotheisms. You can read my views on Islam here http://hanrott.com/blog/epicurus-and-islam/, and on Christianity here http://hanrott.com/blog/epicurus-and-christianity/. Out of the three Abrahamic monotheisms, Judaism is perhaps the most unique. Unlike Christianity and Islam, it does not aspire to convert large portions of the world …
Trump won the 2016 Republican Primary for a myriad of reasons, some of which I’ve looked at here http://hanrott.com/blog/how-the-republicans-should-respond-to-trump/. But a crucial factor was the fact that he distinguished himself from other Republicans. Partly through his straight-talking manner. Partly through his support for entitlements, in contrast to a Republican establishment that wants to reduce them. Partly …
Continue reading ‘Best of the Week #13 The unwinnable war’ »
I recently got an article published in a student-run magazine. It talks about feminism and its relationship with conservatism. You can read it here https://www.femini.space/blog/2017/8/25/is-a-feminist-conservative-an-oxymoron-owen-bell. I’ll be back tomorrow with a proper post.
This post marks the return of my Modern Philosophy series, in which I talk about the most prominent ideas facing the modern world from an Epicurean perspective. After this post, I have at least three more Modern Philosophies to cover, which I’ll be writing on weekly instead of fortnightly, so look out for that! After World War …
Before the most recent French elections, I recommended that French people vote for Emmanuel Macron in what was my first ever post for this blog http://hanrott.com/blog/why-epicurean-frenchmen-should-vote-for-macron/. Having won the election by a greater than expected margin, I thought I would examine how his presidency has gone so far. I should start by saying that I do …
Continue reading ‘Best of the Week #12 Emmanuel Macron in perspective’ »
