Category Archives: truth

80. The Agnostic’s Survival Manual

Posted on January 2, 2015 by thormay

The Agnostic’s Sur­vival Man­ual Thor May thormay@yahoo.com Bris­bane, Aus­tralia April 2013    Pref­ace Dear reader, are you really hop­ing for a book of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’? Do you want gen­tle ideas and a com­fort­able cor­ner in which to rest your … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in competence, culture, ethics, ideology, innovation, intellectuals, lifestyle, merit, motivation, philosophy, proportion, religion, truth, Uncategorized, value | Leave a comment

77. Fakes, liars, cheats, deceivers, animals in the forest

Posted on September 25, 2014 by thormay

It’s all around us. From face lifts to lux­ury cars on hire pur­chase, from inflated CVs to exag­ger­ated job titles, from com­pany pub­lic­ity mate­rial to the spin that gov­ern­ments put on their fail­ures and decep­tions. At what point does fak­ery … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in competence, culture, economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, individualism, law, lifestyle, management, merit, motivation, reciprocation, regulations, religion, rules, truth, value, war, wealth, work | Leave a comment

74. The Purpose of Education – a hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy?

Posted on August 10, 2014 by thormay

Is edu­ca­tion most com­monly treated purely as an instru­men­tal tool (e.g. to get a job), or as a path to self-devel­op­ment, or both? How can a bal­ance between objec­tives be achieved in pub­lic edu­ca­tion?  Thor May Bris­bane, 2014   Pref­ace: This … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in culture, economics, ethics, ideology, individualism, intellectuals, Language learning, lifestyle, merit, motivation, philosophy, Research & Study, teaching, truth, Uncategorized, value, work | Leave a comment

73. Some Uses and Misuses of Reason

Posted on May 20, 2014 by thormay

When can the use of rea­son lead to bet­ter lives and soci­eties, and when can it under­mine them? Thor May Bris­bane, 2014 Think­ing point: The Aus­tralian Attor­ney Gen­eral, George Bran­dis has just declared that argu­ments for cli­mate change are irra­tional and that … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, intellectuals, law, management, merit, motivation, philosophy, politics, proportion, reciprocation, regulations, religion, Research & Study, rules, teaching, truth, value, war | Leave a comment

72. Crime without Punishment – the journey from means to ends

Posted on April 20, 2014 by thormay

Sooner or later every­one – indi­vid­u­als, gov­ern­ments, com­pa­nies – has to make choices about whether to put aside cer­tain val­ues to achieve a desired end. Michael Pas­coe, an Aus­tralian finan­cial jour­nal­ist, has recently dis­cussed this at http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/abandon-principles-and-pay-the-price-20140331-35tz4.html Image credit: Hugh … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in competence, culture, economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, individualism, law, management, merit, motivation, politics, proportion, regulations, religion, rules, teaching, truth, value, war, wealth, work | Leave a comment

69. How do we judge literary value and artistic value?

Posted on March 9, 2014 by thormay

Pref­ace: This is a dis­cus­sion paper, not a researched aca­d­e­mic doc­u­ment. The read­ing list at the end is a col­lec­tion of con­tem­po­rary links from the Inter­net and pretty acci­den­tal, not edited for qual­ity. The author is a prin­ci­pal orga­nizer for … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in art, culture, merit, motivation, philosophy, poetry, proportion, truth, value, writing | Leave a comment

66. What will be the dominant ideologies of the 21st Century?

Posted on January 11, 2014 by thormay

The 20th Cen­tury revolved polit­i­cally around com­pet­ing inter­pre­ta­tions of Cap­i­tal­ism, Com­mu­nism, Social­ism and Fas­cism. These are all ways to orga­nize the lives of peo­ple on a large scale. Are real alter­na­tives or new inter­pre­ta­tions likely to emerge in the chal­leng­ing years … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in China, economics, ethics, ideology, law, merit, motivation, politics, regulations, religion, rules, truth, war, wealth | Leave a comment