The Common Room | The Great Conversation

Of Voting in 2024 (Part II of III): On Positive Democracy (and the American People's Hatred of Aristocratic Ideals)

Nov 417 min read

Of Voting in 2024 (Part II of III): On Positive Democracy (and the American People's Hatred of Aristocratic Ideals)

Part II of our series on voting, investigates the concept of "positive democracy", i.e. the idea that democracy is, itself, worth pursuing.

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Of Voting (Part I of III): On Voting One's Perceived Self-Interest

Drew Maglio

Oct 2815 min read

Of Voting (Part I of III): On Voting One's Perceived Self-Interest

Part I of "Of Voting: On Voting One's Self-Interest", explores the morally-fraught concept of voting one's so-called self-interest.

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Drew Maglio

Oct 112 min read

Fall

A poem about Fall and the seasonal changes she demands of us.

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When Everything is an Extortionist Scam: On consumerist culture and "The Brave New World's" self-inflicted prison of consumptive pleasure.

Drew Maglio

Sep 411 min read

When Everything is an Extortionist Scam: On consumerist culture and "The Brave New World's" self-inflicted prison of consumptive pleasure.

Modern America has become a place in which the goal of most businesses, is to separate as much of the consumer from his money as possible.

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Against the Florida-fication of the World

Drew Maglio

Aug 2418 min read

Against the Florida-fication of the World

Author Drew Maglio reflects on the degradation of his home state of Florida, both environmentally and culturally.

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Aaron Mejias

Mar 1118 min read

A Reluctant Capitalist

If form is now meant to follow function then we live in a world without meaningful ends to be pursued since our ends have simply become...

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The Synergy of Providence and Human Agency, (in Giambattista Vico’s New Science)

Drew Maglio

Mar 19, 20227 min read

The Synergy of Providence and Human Agency, (in Giambattista Vico’s New Science)

Obscure and nebulous as it may be, Vico's "New Science" remains a fascinating inquiry into human development guided by Providence.

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Reading The Origins Of Totalitarianism in 2020: The Failure of Human Rights (Part 3 of 7)

Daniel Grasso

Nov 26, 20218 min read

Reading The Origins Of Totalitarianism in 2020: The Failure of Human Rights (Part 3 of 7)

Part 3 of this series, discusses the paradoxical nature of abstract human rights and their insufficiency when applied to concrete politics.

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The End of Liberal Education: Why Genuine Education is a Process of Re-Orientation of the Soul

Drew Maglio

Oct 31, 202118 min read

The End of Liberal Education: Why Genuine Education is a Process of Re-Orientation of the Soul

Genuine education is a process by which the rational human being orders his or her soul in accordance with Universal Principles.

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Prometheus Unbound: Mary Shelley’s Admonishment About Scientism (originally published 12/12/2019)

Drew Maglio

Jun 11, 20219 min read

Prometheus Unbound: Mary Shelley’s Admonishment About Scientism (originally published 12/12/2019)

200 years after Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" was written, it would seem that humanity en masse has failed to grasp and apply its motif.

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Primary Beings: An Exploration of Form and Substance in Aristotle’s Metaphysics

Drew Maglio

Jun 11, 202113 min read

Primary Beings: An Exploration of Form and Substance in Aristotle’s Metaphysics

Towards what end does metaphysical philosophy aim at?: An Introduction to the world of Form and Matter in Aristotle's "Metaphysics."

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Adam Smith's Timeless Critique of the Mercantilist Impulse (originally published 7/1/2020)

Drew Maglio

Jun 9, 202111 min read

Adam Smith's Timeless Critique of the Mercantilist Impulse (originally published 7/1/2020)

Heralded as a proponent of self-regulating markets, limited government, and free-market “capitalism,” Adam Smith is often misrepresented.

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Daniel Grasso

Mar 30, 202119 min read

The Root of Rational Resolutions

What are we doing when we make resolutions to change? How do they strengthen our will and when is it rational to quit them?

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Divine Intervention, Human Agency, and Fate In Homer's Odyssey

Drew Maglio

Feb 12, 202115 min read

Divine Intervention, Human Agency, and Fate In Homer's Odyssey

The interplay of agency and Fate Homer's Odyssey play against one another in a manner which leads one to doubt if true agency exists at all.

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The Historical Case Against Censorship: Why free speech matters.

Drew Maglio

Jan 9, 202114 min read

The Historical Case Against Censorship: Why free speech matters.

In light of the recent "Big Tech" purge, remember: those who embrace censorship are in bad company historically speaking.

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Reading The Origins Of Totalitarianism in 2020: Mass Society (Part 2 of 7)

Daniel Grasso

Dec 20, 20208 min read

Reading The Origins Of Totalitarianism in 2020: Mass Society (Part 2 of 7)

Who are the Masses? Arendt begins her book in the distant past: if not necessarily in number of years, certainly several worlds away in...

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Rachel Green

Dec 11, 20207 min read

The Long Defeat

Why each of us must recognize and confront our Shadow if we are to perfect ourselves as individuals.

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Virtue as the Masking of Vice: How to Live and Die According to Montaigne

Drew Maglio

Nov 16, 202015 min read

Virtue as the Masking of Vice: How to Live and Die According to Montaigne

In a departure from lofty abstractions, French philosopher Michel de Montaigne presented an earthy vision of virtue during the Renaissance.

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"Equality" and the Tyranny of the Majority

Drew Maglio

Nov 3, 202010 min read

"Equality" and the Tyranny of the Majority

Democracy and "equality" are upheld in the modern age as intrinsically good. Alexis de Tocqueville in the 19th century, did not.

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Austin Parenti

Nov 1, 20205 min read

How to Study Art: Form vs. Content

I attended a secular high school in New York. One year, my English class read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Despite our...

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