Curated Video
Pursuing Happiness
Author and independent scholar Matthew Stewart gives his perspective of what Thomas Jefferson really meant by the “Pursuit of Happiness.”
Curated Video
Necessarily Nebulous
Historian Martin Jay (UC Berkeley) outlines his convictions that there is no single normative notion of politics.
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Modelling Politics
Tufts University philosopher Brian Epstein describes how key aspects of his philosophical views of the social world can be directly applied to politics, explaining that to understand politics, it is vital to consider what led people to...
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Making Better Decisions
Political scientist Josiah Ober describes how we might concretely improve our ability to make political decisions within a democratic framework, highlighting so-called deliberative and epistemic approaches to decision-making.
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Investigating Corruption
Tufts University philosopher Brian Epstein describes how carefully developing a model of bureaucratic corruption can lead to identifying key factors that traditional social science models will necessarily overlook.
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Different Domains
UC Berkeley historian Martin Jay contrasts the political domain with the scientific one, explaining that it’s important to recognize that the two are distinct, believing it would be a very bad idea to try to recreate politics in the...
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Descriptions vs. Explanations
UC Berkeley political scientist Mark Bevir describes how it is important for both political theorists and policymakers to recognize the difference between a description and an explanation.
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Democratic Challenges
Classicist and political theorist Josiah Ober (Stanford) argues that the success of classical Athenian democracy was consistently challenged by aristocratic elites such as Plato or Aristotle.
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An Epistemic Democrat
Classicist and political theorist Josiah Ober (Stanford) looks back to Aristotle's view of human flourishing to appreciate the benefits of democracy.
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Against Reification
Political scientist Mark Bevir (UC Berkeley) argues that we need to move beyond reification of abstract concepts and recognize intentionality.
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Conceptual Rigor
Political scientist Mark Bevir (UC Berkeley) describes how too many people associate rigor primarily with methodology rather than basic thinking.
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Against Libertarianism
Intellectual historian Quentin Skinner (QMUL), demonstrates how the classical libertarian argument against the state impinging on our personal freedom is incorrect.
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A Supreme Example
Tufts University philosopher Brian Epstein describes how many people’s perspectives on the social world are prejudiced by a hidden assumption that he takes issue with, and uses the example of The Supreme Court to illustrate his point.
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Willful Ignorance
Author and independent scholar Pankaj Mishra describes how many Eastern ideas and perspectives have been routinely ignored by the West.
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Building Better Models
Philosopher Brian Epstein (Tufts University) describes how we can use philosophical understanding to help build better, more rigorous models in social science.
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Begging the Question
Political scientist Mark Bevir (UC Berkeley) describes how, in politics, the explanation of a crisis often points to a solution.
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Aristotelian Capacities and Flourishing
Classicist and political theorist Josiah Ober (Stanford) describes the standard Aristotelian argument of capacities and flourishing.
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A Sense of the Numinous
Rabbi Emeritus David J. Goldberg relates the irrational side of the human condition, how he has more in common with moderates of other religions than he does with extremists of his own, and the constant tensions between particularism and...
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A Sense of Crisis
Award-winning author Pankaj Mishra describes how his outlook to life has been irrevocably affected by a deep sense of crisis that is common to many people who grow up in Asia.
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In the Shadow of The West
Award-winning author Pankaj Mishra describes his personal experiences of growing up in Asia while being disproportionately affected by Western cultural, philosophical and economic considerations.
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Grounding and Anchoring
Philosopher Brian Epstein (Tufts University) explains how his grounding and anchoring model of social ontology works.
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Fostering Social Change
University of Michigan business professor Andrew Hoffman relates how, in order to promote societal awareness of climate change, we need social entrepreneurs to consistently make public links to related events to disrupt people’s common...
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Digging Deeper
Historian Nile Green, UCLA, describes why the notion of a “Clash of Civilizations” between the West and the Islamic world is inappropriate, while describing how the model of “religious economy” can help us improve both understanding and...
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Constructing Knowledge
UC Berkeley historian and Byzantine specialist Maria Mavroudi describes how the standard view of the Middle Ages science fails to take into account the creative process of systematizing and building upon prior views.