Why does North Korea really want nukes?
by Thomas R. Wells North Korea’s development of atomic fission bombs and ICBMs is very worrying. Unfortunately the analysis of it in the news media is woeful. Some commentators assume that North Korea works like a normal country (like their country); some clearly don’t understand how war works; some believe the regime’s propaganda; some seem…
(Almost) no natural disasters are natural
by Thomas R. Wells A natural disaster is a disaster because it involves a lot of human suffering, not because the event itself is especially big or spectacular. The destruction of an uninhabited island by a volcano is not a natural disaster, because it doesn't really matter to humans. A landslide doesn't matter, however enormous,…
The antidotes to populism: stoicism and civil society
by Thomas R. Wells The politics of populist rage are on the ascendant in every democracy, even if thankfully not always triumphant. Authoritarian regimes like China and Russia, and cynics like John Gray, are relishing the collapse of the moral high ground and the return to good honest Machiavellianism. The old calumnies against democracy seem…
There is no such thing as neoliberalism and it is destroying the left
by Thomas R. Wells The left has been at war with neoliberalism since the 1980s. The result has been intellectual, political, and moral collapse. The first problem is that there is no such thing as neoliberalism. It exists entirely as a critique by the left. It thus mirrors the fantasy of political correctness that the…
Liberalism’s Minsky Moment: How decades of peace, justice and prosperity sowed the seeds for populist revolt
by Thomas R. Wells The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns,…
What is the point of elections and what do they have to do with democracy?
by Thomas R. Wells The relationship between our electoral institutions and our democratic ideals is surprisingly obscure. Many systems rely on counting votes, but only in such a way that each vote does not count equally towards the final outcome (as in America's electoral college or in parliamentary constituency systems such as Britain's). But even…
The European Union used to solve collective problems, now they are killing it
by Thomas R. Wells Collective action problems pit individual selfishness against the collective interest in areas as diverse as pollution, trade, peace, and public roads. The invisible hand of the market can't reach them. Instead we need politics. The European Union used to be good at this. But not any more. An example. Public goods…
Resisting the Security State
by Thomas R Wells Liberalism is a centuries old political project of taming the power of the state so that it works for the ruled not the rulers. Can it survive the security state midwifed by global terrorism? Only if we take back responsibility for managing the dark political emotions of fear and anger that…
Only Human Rights are Worth Killing For
Why have we lost faith in science?
by Thomas R. Wells Science is an essential part of modern civilisation. It has cast religious metaphysics out of the natural world. It has supported the development of technologies that allow more people to live better and longer lives than ever before. It provides the empirical foundation on which the ideal of democratic deliberation rests,…
Is there too much competition in sport?
by Thomas R. Wells Sports are mere games, “the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles” as Bernard Suits, the founder of the philosophy of games, puts it. So why do we care about them? The pleasure of sport has three distinct sources – competition, drama, and craft. Although each has their own logic and appeal,…
Blow Up the University: A Modest Proposal for Reform
by Thomas R. Wells Are universities places for neoliberal human capital formation, or for the construction of a secular cathedral of human knowledge, or the development and promulgation of policies and technologies for the material benefit of society, or a finishing school to ensure the critical thinking skills and moral character of our future rulers?…
The right to migrate trumps politics as usual
by Thomas R. Wells The current immigration crisis in Europe has, finally, generated much soul searching among European citizens, as well as a great deal of unfortunate political squabbling among European governments. Yet a great deal of the debate still assumes the centrality of national political concerns when this is, morally speaking, irrelevant. The right…
Can free speech survive the internet?
by Thomas R. Wells The internet has made it easier than ever to speak to others. It has empowered individuals, allowing us to publish our opinions without convincing a publishing company of their commercial value; to find and share others' views on matters we concern ourselves with without the fuss of photocopying and mailing newspaper…
The joy of literature
by Thomas R. Wells Every week or so a literature professor publishes an eloquent essay about what literature is good for. Here's a nice example. The backdrop is the decades long decline of literature degree programmes in the Anglophone world. This is why you need us!, they argue, somewhat plaintively. These essays tend to circle…
Guns in America are a matter of political philosophy not public health
Crime hurts, justice should heal
by Thomas R. Wells Judicial punishment is the curious idea that individuals deserve to be punished by the state for breaking its laws. Intellectually this is rather counter-intuitive. If crime is so terrible because it is a social trauma then deliberately hurting more people would seem to amplify that trauma rather than treat it. There…
The Indignity of Monarchy
by Thomas R. Wells The persistence of monarchy in modern Europe, even in weakened form, is astonishing and disappointing. How can it be that in the 21st century Dutch, British, even Canadian citizens must still describe ourselves as mere subjects? What does that medieval term even mean anyway, and who gets to decide? When are…
Advertisers should pay you
by Thomas R. Wells Advertising isn't only a waste of our time and attention, our ultimate scarce resource. It is also intensely annoying. So why do we have so much of it? It is a classic case of market failure. The advertising industry consists of the buying and selling of your attention between 3rd parties…