"A slave dreams not of freedom, but of his own slaves"
Request: A quote attributed to Cicero.
Arts & Humanities
My Big Toe: A Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics
By nuclear physicist Thomas Campbell, written in the language of contemporary Western culture.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
With 9,921 motion picture professionals [as of April 2020], the Academy… is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, both officially and popularly known as "The Oscars" -- wikipedia.
direct democracy
The electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislative representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies -- wikipedia.
Kahlil Gibran
Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself rejected the title -- wikipedia.
The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield
Request: Hugely popular book on how to overcome the barriers to creativity and success.
For the Children’s Sake, by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Foundations of Education for Home and School. Request: Looking into different kindergarten programs for my child that base their curriculum on this book.
legend of Lilith
Priority request: My aunt says she's a symbol of female empowerment, independence, and resistance to oppression. "The first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon, Lilith is cited as having been 'banished' from the Garden of Eden for not complying with and obeying Adam" -- wikipedia.
antinatalism
A philosophical view that deems procreation to be unethical. Antinatalists thus argue that humans should abstain from having children -- wikipedia. Request: Recently a very common view among my acquaintances.
Occam's razor
Popularly, the principle is sometimes paraphrased as "The simplest explanation is usually the best one"-- wikipedia.
broken windows theory
states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes -- wikipedia.
selling AI-generated art
Priority request: … virtually anyone can generate "their own" art using free software. The issue is, AI can only copy from existing pieces, so it's … seen as somewhat disingenuous, given that it takes little to no effort on the part of the "artist".
fatalism
Included in this is the belief that all events are decided by fate and are outside human control, hence humans have no power to influence the future or indeed the outcome of their own thoughts and actions -- wikipedia. Priority request.
relativism
"Such an outlook is quite congenial to an individualist ethic, wherein each individual is faced with his own truth, different from the truth of others. Taken to its extreme consequences, this individualism leads to a denial of the very idea of human nature" - Pope John Paul II.
natural law
Request: a theory in ethics and philosophy that says that human beings possess intrinsic values that govern their reasoning and behavior.