12 Posts found for source_month: Summer

Phi Beta Kappa are the initials of a Greek phrase: philosophia biou kybernetes, “Philosophy, the pilot of life.” Philosophia is clear; biou is as in biology, the science of life; and kybernetes just lets you recognize the related word “governor.”

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We live in a democracy that is generally said to be characterized by two ideals: liberty and equality. These watchwords peculiarly define American democracy. Its … [ Read more ]

Author: Eva T. H. Brann | Source: The Key Reporter (Summer1993) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

The great triumphs of modern science, from splitting the atom to unraveling the human genome, increasingly raise a troubling question: Is the pursuit of knowledge always a good thing? A long tradition in Western thought – largely ignored even by today’s critics of science – says it is not.

Author: Mark Lilla | Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2001) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Intelligence | Knowledge, IT | Technology, Philosophy

Third World poverty may often be a contributing factor in terrorism, but it is neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause, argues Richard K. Betts, director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University […] “Economic development in an area where the political and religious impulses remain unresolved could serve to improve the resource base for terrorism rather than undercut it.”

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Terrorism is … [ Read more ]

Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2002) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Foreign Policy, International, Terrorism

The notion that the ability to remember new information often depends on prior knowledge of the topic is well known. Now, researchers in Edinburgh, Tokyo, and Trondheim, Norway, have conducted a study that helps answer one of the most important questions in neuroscience: Why is it that the more people know, the more they can learn?

Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2007) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Math & Science

America’s enduring love affair with big spending is fetching up against some unromantic realities. But a lifelong saver assures us that there are worse fates than socking it away for a rainy day.

Author: Daniel Akst | Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2009) | Subjects: America, Articles & Links, Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Excerpts, Life & Society

Nick Schulz on the economy’s animal spirits.

Author: Nick Schulz | Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2009) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Excerpts

A foreign policy expert warns that the troop surge in Iraq, while yielding short-term gains, may endanger Iraqis later on.

Author: Steven Simon | Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2008) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Foreign Policy, International, Military | War | Peace

The rapid expansion of relief efforts since the end of the Cold War has produced a surprising result: a series of difficult moral questions about the humanitarian enterprise.

Author: G. Pascal Zachary | Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2008) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Foreign Policy, International, Life & Society, Philanthropy, Politics & Public Policy, Sociology | Anthropology

An unassuming Dutch traffic engineer showed that streets without signs can be safer than roads cluttered with arrows, painted lines, and lights. Are we ready to believe him?

Author: Tom Vanderbilt | Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2008) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Culture, Environment | Sustainability, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy

One things been made clear by the housing crisis: not everyone should own their own home. Renting has its merits.

Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2008) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy

Ted Cohen professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago and a recipient of the university’s award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, visited eight campuses last year as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. One of the topics on which be lectured was ‘Jokes,” which is also the title of his latest book. This thought-provoking article is adapted from his lecture.

Author: Ted Cohen | Source: The Key Reporter (Summer2001) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Philosophy

An era of debt-fueled consumption has come to an end, and with it the economic culture that created it. If government is going to fill in for consumers, it will need to be smart about how it spends.

Author: Martin Walker | Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Summer2009) | Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Politics & Public Policy