Dana Garrett

Great story and great narration

Revisado: 04-19-18

I read the story before I heard the audible version of it. I'm glad I did both. The story is compelling and the narrator does a excellent job of giving distinct voices to the various characters in the story. What I especially appreciated about the narrator is how his voice sounds like the time period during which the story occurs. If you listen to the story, you might find reading it also interesting (or vice versa). This story is as good as alternate histories get. I highly recommend it.

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Strong Case by Pinker but More is Needed

Revisado: 04-08-18

Pinker makes a strong case for how enlightenment values have resulted in real and substantial progress across many measurable vectors in the world. He is loaded with facts and studies and it would be difficult for anyone to demonstrate that he is fundamentally wrong about those matters. He is particularly strong on taking on the enemies of enlightenment values. I especially appreciated how he identified Nietzsche as one such influential enemy. My one disagreement with Pinker is how he decries how some individuals are disappointed with their situation in contemporary life, their comparative advantages to erstwhile centuries notwithstanding. It's almost as if he ascribes a lack of gratitude to these individuals when it's more likely that they are cognizant that they don't experience the state of affairs they deserve regardless of the progress that has been made. Individuals deserve to live in societies that maximize liberty, equality, and human well being to the greatest extent possible. They sense that and, so far at least, enlightenment values haven't provided it to them. Their complaint is healthy and needed. It's possibly needed to generate a new paradigm, beyond enlightenment values, that will make such a state of affairs possible. Pinker doesn't seem open to that possibility.

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Good except for the interpolations

Revisado: 03-13-18

Koterski was good on the history of natural law philosophy. He also did well on showing how natutal law has factored in jurisprudence. The problem with the presentation is the many interpolations of his theological agenda into the presentarion. His attempt to make the case that heterosexual marriages were best for child rearing was weak and often question begging. And his attempt to try to dismiss the relevance of personhood in the abortion argument utterly failed. Otherwise his presentation was informative and worthwhile.

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An Excellent Survey

Revisado: 08-05-17

This is an excellent survey of the range of Kant's thought. All the important aspects of his philosophical and political thought are covered. The narration was also performed well.

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Impossible to give a sufficiently high recommendation

Revisado: 11-21-15

It is difficult to get further on the left politically and dispostionally than me, yet I cannot give a recommendation that is sufficiently high enough to capture the excellence of these lectures. The lecturer is clearly sympathetic to conservatism. Nonetheless his presentation is thorough, well grounded, illuminating, and objective. Although I knew that historically there was a marked diversity in conservative thought, I didn't know the extent until listening to these lectures. These lectures are education in the best senses of the word. The lecturer is particularly astute regarding the disposition of a conservative, especially regarding her relationship to tradition. That disposition and relationship as well as particular conservative beliefs keep me unpersuaded about the desirability of conservative beliefs. All that is to say that my praise for this audiobook does not betoken a conversion. This is a simple matter of fact. This audiobook is well done, optimally so in fact.

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An Excellent Survey of Western Political Thought

Revisado: 06-02-15

This is an excellent survey of the philosophical foundations of Western political thought. It covers not only the foundations of Western political thought (Plato and Aristotle) but also recent developments in western political thought (the animal rights movement and feminism). The explanations are clear, objective, and without a lot of philosophical jargon. At a certain point the standard becomes Liberal Republicanism and it is against this standard that other alternate theories are measured. That privileging of Liberal Republicanism seemed unnecessary to me. Yet when alternate theories are presented their critiques of Liberal Republicanism are presented as well. I will most certainly be listening to this book again. It's worth it.

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esto le resultó útil a 14 personas