Tryals

So what distinguishes human beings from all the other species of animal on the planet? Genetics provides no obvious answer. There is no firm genetic boundary between one species and its nearest neighbors—think of dogs, wolves and coyotes, which are able to interbreed with one another (and increasingly do). Most of the distinctions that separate us from other species are matters of degree rather than specific behaviors and abilities unique to our species. We might boast abo

Human beings are animals. Our extraterrestrial observer might at first find little reason to assume that our human species is very different from the many other species populating our planet. This non-human observer might have access to samples of terrestrial DNA, which would indicate to the observer that homo sapiens is closely related to other varieties of primate, a little more distantly to the many more species that bear and nurse live pups, and yet more distantly to al

Why is it so hard for other people to be reasonable? Perhaps you’re confident that you yourself are an eminently reasonable person and that it is other people who consistently and stubbornly refuse to acknowledge what is plainly and obviously true. In that case, it might be useful to discover what it is in their nature that explains this persistently unreasonable behavior. Why, for example, do others seem to believe that they are among the select reasonable few, when they

The image of a singular and all-powerful god has become an obsession of the human imagination—particularly in the West—over the last two thousand years or so. That such a god is now firmly lodged in the human imagination is not a matter of dispute. It is an easily-defended observational claim. We just have to ask a sampling of people and quote a myriad of texts. But whether such a deity exists anywhere beyond human habits of speech or the human imagination is an entirely

Populists have an affinity for magical thinking. They love repeating incantations, easy spells, chanted phrases and dramatic flourishes to deal with complex issues. They like events, rallies, rambunctious crowds, patriotic slogans, pious gestures, repeated and predictable mantras. They love symbols, and the idea that the success of the nation can be measured by voluble adherence to icons and utterances. Caesar Augustus, when beset by uncomfortable events, ordered the door

Free speech? Sure, that’s an easy one! I’m all for it! So, a strong yes to free speech. Now that wasn’t hard, was it? Next question? Except that the freedom of speaking is never quite that easy. Everyone, of course, will agree that some speech should be free, else there would be no speech at all. More specifically, they want their own freedom to express their chosen communications to remain unconstrained. In other words, they want their speech to be free. Surely they

Populism begins with grievance but seldom ends there. Grievance graduates to indignation, indignation to rage, finally to vengeance. This is by design. Populists understand the language of conspiracy. The populist leader’s goal is to reach office, then to remain, which requires reliable and enduring popular support. This might make him indistinguishable from any other politician, except that his ambition does not require him to demonstrate governing competence (usually a