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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 13h

Maybe of interest to @thecambridgeschool.bsky.social @duncanbell.bsky.social @liberalcurrents.com @karenilsehorn.bsky.social

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 13h

Adam Smith on sparing Enemy Children, and the development of Prudential liberalism
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

Adam Smith on sparing Enemy Children, and the development of Prudential liberalism

In The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Adam Smith famously takes “Aristotle” and “humane Plato” to task for condoning infanticide, which Smith regards as “dreadful a violation of humanity.” The lon...

open.substack.com

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 13h

It's good that they are talking about this

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UCL News @uclnews.bsky.social · 20h

The UK’s top scientific institutions are vulnerable to political interference, finds a new @uclpolicylab.bsky.social report by Prof @chrischirp.bsky.social .

Meanwhile, exclusive @moreincommonuk.bsky.social polling shows 7 in 10 Britons say it is important for these bodies to be independent.

UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

The UK’s top scientific institutions, from the Met Office to the UK Health Security Agency, have inadequate institutional defences to prevent potential political interference, a new UCL Policy Lab rep...

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 13h

Well, you reminded me of Rawls at the right moment:)

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 1d

This should go Viral on X.

Craig Fox 🌖🇨🇦 @neohempelian.bsky.social · 1d

Update:
I posted prematurely. The final tally is:
1. Jenann Ismael
2. Katherine Brading
3. Carlo Rovelli
4. Robert DiSalle and Howard Stein
5. Nick Huggett (generally super technical but my students love his work on Zeno)
6. Eric Schliesser

Honorable mention bc of technicality John Earman

Craig Fox 🌖🇨🇦 @neohempelian.bsky.social · 2d

Based on my comments on my Space & Time seminar students’ first paper outlines, apparently I have a short list of favourite philosophers:
1. Jenann Ismael
2. Carlo Rovelli
3. Robert DiSalle
4. Nick Huggett
If my students were more mathematically oriented, Earman would be there
#philsci

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 1d

Also, what do they read by me in that course?:)

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 1d

Wait, what, how did I sneak into this list?

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe amusing to @thecambridgeschool.bsky.social @liberalcurrents.com

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 1d

Rousseau, Adaptive Preferences, and Social Entrepeneurship
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
Shout outs to @erwindekker.bsky.social, @lastpositivist.bsky.social, @serenekhader.bsky.social

Rousseau, Adaptive Preferences, and Social Entrepeneurship

Near the start of The Social Contract (1762), in his criticism of Aristotle, Rousseau (recall) diagnoses the phenomenon of adaptive preferences. What we desire is not just shaped by society, but what ...

open.substack.com

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you. I was worried I mashed too many issues together in the post. So this is reassuring.

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Malcolm Quinn @malrog.bsky.social · 1d

This is very good on what to do when God isn't your witness.

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 2d

On Rousseau's Machiavellian Correction to Machiavelli's Practically Useful Philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

On Rousseau's Machiavellian Correction to Machiavelli's Practically Useful Philosophy

A few weeks ago (recall), I noted that in the Florentine Histories, Machiavelli uses Plutarch’s account of the senior Cato’s banishment of the Greek philosophers from Rome, to introduce an important d...

open.substack.com

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 2d

Maybe amusing to @lastpositivist.bsky.social @cambridgeday.com

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 2d

On Rousseau's Machiavellian Correction to Machiavelli's Practically Useful Philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

On Rousseau's Machiavellian Correction to Machiavelli's Practically Useful Philosophy

A few weeks ago (recall), I noted that in the Florentine Histories, Machiavelli uses Plutarch’s account of the senior Cato’s banishment of the Greek philosophers from Rome, to introduce an important d...

open.substack.com

1 4

Reposted by Digressionsimpressions

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 3d

Some Uneasy Thoughts on Foucault and Machiavelli
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Some Uneasy Thoughts on Foucault and Machiavelli

Foucault introduces the art of government as a theme on 1 February 1978, which is the fourth lecture at Collège de France of the series translated as Security, Territory, and Population. After discuss...

open.substack.com

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Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 3d

@thecambridgeschool.bsky.social

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 3d

Some Uneasy Thoughts on Foucault and Machiavelli
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

Some Uneasy Thoughts on Foucault and Machiavelli

Foucault introduces the art of government as a theme on 1 February 1978, which is the fourth lecture at Collège de France of the series translated as Security, Territory, and Population. After discuss...

open.substack.com

1 3 4

Reposted by Digressionsimpressions

Shen-yi Liao 廖顯禕 @liao.shen-yi.org · 5d

Nice post from @nescio13.bsky.social on why academic freedom is not freedom of speech.

crookedtimber.org/2025/10/01/a...

Against Campus ‘Debate’ — Crooked Timber

crookedtimber.org

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John Howl Boo @jholbo.bsky.social · 7d

Checking that, here is Hartley (1749) using 'economical' not to mean money-saving but efficiently regular. Like, it makes craft sense that door-makers well tend to establish, by convention, a door template they tend to stick with. To save labor (not money per se). archive.org/details/obse...