Do not panic. It’s just a moral panic. Not to freak you out, but you may be in the middle of a moral panic. A moral panic is the pervasive belief that some great wickedness is threatening society and must be stopped. Calling something a moral panic is a way to argue that people’s fears or concerns are silly and baseless and that any effort to address them must be stopped. The latter may now be the bigger problem. Consider the spate of moral panics supposedly astir. According to the panic police, if you are worried about children and social media, you are succumbing to moral panic. If you’re troubled about your employees ruining the corporate brand on TikTok, that’s right: moral panic. Trepidations about artificial intelligence, crime, teenage Juul use, policing, gender ideology, privacy, self-driving cars, feminism, A.D.H.D., racism — moral panics, all. … (New York Times)
Hannah Arendt: on the spectre of nuclear war. On 27th February 2022, three days after the invasion of Ukraine began, Vladimir Putin ordered his generals to put Russia’s nuclear deterrent force on high alert. Seventy-seven years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Putin’s words brought the spectre of nuclear war back onto the world stage. During the first months of the war, Western leaders kept their cool, not responding to his nuclear rhetoric, although the then French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, did remind the Russians on the first day of the invasion that NATO is also a nuclear alliance. Otherwise, Putin’s nuclear threats were met in the West with what Emmanuel Macron called ‘strategic ambiguity’. But the tide is changing. As Russia insists its nuclear threats are not a bluff, the White House has repeatedly warned about the catastrophic consequences that would follow nuclear escalation by the Kremlin. Yet Western leaders also continue to insist on the utmost caution in dealing with Putin. Numerous Eastern European leaders object that for the Russians caution is often perceived as weakness: that Putin might take it as a license to resort to non-conventional weapons – all the more so since his intended Blitzkrieg has turned into a farce. Indeed, as the Ukrainian army gained the upper hand, Putin’s desperation became increasingly expressed by outright nuclear blackmail. And so Western leaders keep wobbling on a tightrope between caution and decisiveness, under which the abyss of reckless escalation lurks. … (Philosophy Now)
Pompeii archaeologists discover 'pizza' painting. The flatbread depicted in the 2,000-year-old fresco "may be a distant ancestor of the modern dish", Italy's culture ministry said. But it lacks the classic ingredients to technically be considered a pizza. The fresco was found in the hall of a house next to a bakery during recent digs at the site in southern Italy. The discovery was made this year during new excavations of Regio IX in the centre of Pompeii, one of the nine districts that the ancient site is divided into. The building was partially excavated in the 19th Century before digging recommenced in January this year - nearly 2,000 years on from the volcanic eruption which engulfed the city. Archaeologists at the Unesco World Heritage park say the newly-uncovered fresco depicting the flatbread, painted next to a wine goblet, may have been eaten with fruits such as pomegranates or dates, or dressed with spices and a type of pesto sauce. … (BBC News)
The terror of threes in the heavens and on earth. Isaac Newton was baffled. He was already famous for discovering how gravity holds the universe together and for using that knowledge to predict the movements of celestial bodies, such as the moon’s path around the Earth. Now, by taking the sun’s gravitational tugs into account, he sought to improve his lunar predictions. Instead, it made them worse. The setback, Newton’s friend Edmond Halley reported, “made his head ache, and kept him awake so often, that he would think of it no more.” Newton felt his defeat so keenly that he recalled it more than once in his old age. Today it’s called the three-body problem. Famous in science and science fiction for orbital perturbations and chaotic phenomena, it’s recently become a concern of atomic experts and military planners. As Beijing rapidly expands its nuclear arsenal, they warn that the world of atomic superpowers is about to escalate to three from two. The outcome, they add, compared with the Moscow-Washington standoff, now 70 years old, could represent a dangerous new kind of unthinkable. … (New York Times)
Do you listen well? Lessons on listening from Plutarch. Plutarch (AD46 – after AD 119) was a Platonic philosopher, essayist, biographer, magistrate, and a priest at the Temple of Apollo later in his life. Plutarch was known for his involvement in all matters of society, taking on even the humblest of tasks. However, he is best remembered today for Parallel Lives, a series of biographies that followed prestigious Greeks and Romans, and Moralia a collection of essays, letters, and speeches that summarized his life’s work, beliefs, and teachings. Moralia translated as ‘’Morals’’ or ‘’Matters concerning customs and mores’’ and consists of 78 essays and speeches. From questioning fate to the nature of music, Moralia sheds light on ancient Greek life and offers some of the deepest and most timeless wisdom. Plutarch’s letter on listening was first delivered as a formal lecture and was later converted into a letter to his young friend Nicander, who was about to embark on the study of Philosophy. … (Classical Wisdom)
Since joining Substack, neuron firings have increased exponentially. The three-body problem (and the “tricky problem with threes”) brought back memories from 1984 after reading the Fate of the Earth by Jonathan Schell; and Preventing War in the Nuclear Age by Dietrich Fischer. One of the main arguments Fischer made was that we did not have a “Sword of Damocles,” as said by President Kennedy, with China. The reason being was diplomacy and friendship. The Chinese were a nuclear superpower in the 1970’s and could completely destroy the United States, or the U.S.S.R., or France and the U.K. But they never postured so and were most eager to do business with the west. I find it interesting that the topic is brought up today as problem when in fact it was shown to be a working example of maintaining peace. The arguments of the hawks and the doves in the Times have been discussed before. There are many nations in the nuclear club most with positive relations with each other. I agree with the doves in the NYTimes article in that deterrence is better a one-to-one relationship approach--not that I am a dove--but simply that escalating is not necessarily the solution in nuclear stability. It’s just interesting that Fischer looked for solutions through example and we’re looking at it from a bird’s eye’s view. An orthographic projection from another angle. But why? The Cold War was scary at times. I remember nightmares during my undergraduate studies at NYU of overnight armageddon. Reagan in his Saturday morning radio address jokingly said, “We begin bombing five minutes.” To think the nightmares faded by the Soviet collapse, or that I just got older, I’ll never know. What’s my point after this nostalgic look back? 😄 It’s seem we keep revisiting the same old problems not unlike our sought after wisdom from thinkers of the past. 😊
The suggested reading columns are very nice, Massimo. Some remarks, one question.
The image on top of these columns of the woman with was tablets (found in Pompeii, I believe) was on the cover of my Latin schoolbooks when I was 11-14. Nice to be reminded.
You've recommended the six Peter Adamson books (A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Volume 1-6) in an earlier column but didn't mention one aspect - their ridiculous price: €11.00 for ca; 400 pp, niche books - the author's a philanthropist!
My son ran off with my copy of the Field Guide to a Happy Life. So I bought him the French translation of all the Greek/Hellenic/Roman stoics in one volume (1400 super thin pages). My question: does a single volume complete translation exist in English? (my French is OK but it's just hard work)
(Les Stoïciens, ed. Pierre-Maxime Schuhl, Gallimard, Bibl. de la Pleiade https://www.amazon.fr/Sto%C3%AFciens-Collectifs/dp/2070105415/ref=sr_1_3?crid=27MZUUR6EFMRF&keywords=pleiade+stoic&qid=1689256588&sprefix=pleiade+stoic%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-3; but don't order the Pleiade books at Amazon as they always succeed in damaging the box of the books)
You've mentioned Antwerp renaissance Stoics in a podcast. Were you thinking of Lipsius? Are any of his books worth reading today?
Thanks!