Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. A summary of Hazony’s overall strategy: (1) He simply ignores everything that Locke has to say about the distinction between parental and political power in both Treatises, as well as everything Locke has to say about t…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. I’m writing a post on it, and want to save what I have to say for then. A few quotes convey his essential message, but don’t convey the slap-dash, haphazard, gaslighting approach he takes to the text to ensure …

In reply to Roderick T. Long. The real missed opportunity is my failure to summarize what he had to say about “smart toilet bowls” that send urine and stool samples directly to your physician, bypassing LabCorp, Quest, and the like. Another…

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. “the section in it on Locke (and Lockean liberalism) really has to be read to be believed” Can you say more? LikeLike

In reply to Roderick T. Long. The sadist in me wants to impose an Islamic theocracy on people like Hazony, so that he can be awakened at 5 am for the morning prayer, then forced to walk to the mosque for prayers, then forced to say the subsequent four …

In reply to Roderick T. Long. Hazony: “the different states had the right to have established churches or religious tests for holding office to concern themselves with the general welfare of the public, which included the moral welfare.” J…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. And of course the Religious Freedom statute that Jefferson composed for the state of Virginia shows that he thought church-state separation was a desideratum at the state level, even if not mandated by the Constitution. ht…

Thomas Jefferson thought that the Constitution was an obstacle to Presidents declaring national days of prayer: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-7257 Of course this was only for the federal govt and didn’t bind the state…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. I agree. Once the law identifies a given day as the Sabbath, then that day becomes The Sabbath Day, and there’s an end to it. In a Christian commonwealth such as ours, that day is presumptively Sunday. My fervent hop…

There also seems to be a difference of opinion between Jews and Christians (well, most Christians; not Adventists, obviously, though I’m sure there’s some disagreement about details there too) as to which day is “the sabbath.” …