On Consumers and Consumerism
A Philosophical Happy Hour on our having become consumers and how we might escape consumerism. I am uncomfortable in nearly all shopping environments (used bookstores being the primary exception). I do not know when this began—but it became very noticeable to me while in graduate school; perhaps because I was rather poor in those years. […]
Implementation of Subsidiarity
The principle of subsidiarity—perhaps longest known for its role in Catholic social teaching though also described as “fundamental to the functioning of the European Union”—has an undeniable allure for all serious persons. Succinctly described, subsidiarity holds that governing decisions ought to be made at the lowest level of competence. In a concrete example, decisions about […]
Property, Ownership, and the Concentration of Wealth
What is property? What is wealth? Who has a right to ownership? What moral quandaries are to be found in the concentration of wealth? Over the past several decades, wealth has become, in many ways, largely dissociated from real things, from tangible beings. This dissociation stems not only from the movement to a fiat currency, […]
