Author Archives: Bo Winegard
A dialogue concerning political correctness and its discontents
Aletheia: I shall make two somewhat related contentions. First, science should never be suppressed, distorted, or otherwise manipulated for ANY reason. And second, political correctness has become a suffocating force on many college campuses, in many segments of society, and … Continue reading
The Royal Opposition: Why We Should Seek Contrary Opinions
“Without contraries is no progression.” William Blake 1. The Owl of Minerva History, according to the idealist philosopher, Friedrich Hegel, is not a disconnected jumble of accidents; rather, it is the purposeful and progressive ascent of the absolute spirit … Continue reading
Let the dead bury the dead?
Many years ago, I was watching one treacly movie or another about a grieving widow. It wasn’t good, but it was embarrassingly effective. I was moved. As I am wont to do, I quickly dissipated my sadness by contemplating a … Continue reading
Why James Bond flaunts women (and why you should watch Bourne movies)
James Bond. High status, clever, cunning. Men want to be him, as they say, and women want to be with him. Although he might be slightly antiquated in a post-Bourne world of action heroes, he still resonates. Last year’s latest … Continue reading
Kim Kardashian’s baby: Why we are all addicted to gossip.
Forged from fragments of private disclosures, invidious rumors, and personal inventions, gossip is a weapon often wielded to wound an absent other. In a brilliant but troubling short story by William Faulkner—“Dry September”—it even leads to the tragic murder of … Continue reading
Interpreting the cup: Schopenhauer, Darwin, and human suffering.
I There is something discomfiting about our society’s constant moral admonitions that we should be happy. The world is not always a benevolent place. And our lives are not always filled with joy. It is vexing to pretend perpetually … Continue reading
The Two Tragedies of life
“There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” Oscar Wilde In Mike Cahill’s idiosyncratic and charming indie film King of California, a mentally troubled man with … Continue reading
American Inequality and Cultural Strategies Theory. By Bo and Ben Winegard.
This is a theoretical snippet that my brother, Ben Winegard, and I worked on to (partially) explain the sundry problems that result from gross amounts of economic and social inequality. Inequality has increased dramatically in the United States since the … Continue reading
WHY CAESAR’S WIFE MUST BE ABOVE SUSPICION: MATES FUNCTION AS HONEST INDICATORS OF STATUS AND PRESTIGE. BY BEN AND BO WINEGARD.
In Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar, a story is related that Julius Caesar divorced his wife (Pompeia) because of rumors of opprobrious behavior. At trial, Caesar said he knew nothing about his wife’s rumored adultery, but asserted that he divorced her … Continue reading
Urban Angst: Darwinian Theory, the Need for Meaning, and Modern Existential Anxiety
“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” Victor Frankl Almost every human has, at one moment or another, recoiled from the world and asked a simple but disturbing question: “what is the … Continue reading