The political philosopher Michael Walzer is a self-described man of the left, but he has often found himself at odds with his ideological allies. In recent years, he has been an especially interesting and independent voice on questions related to terrorism and to strife in the Middle East, drawing on arguments first advanced in his now classic book Just and Unjust Wars (1977). He was kind enough to share his wisdom with In Character.
continue reading >Most modern thinkers have not been much concerned with the virtue of wisdom. So it may just be time to put the sapiens back in homo sapiens sapiens.
continue reading >The greatest confrontation between glamour and grit that ever occurred on American soil took place at four in the afternoon on November 1, 1938, at Pimlico racetrack, on a day when almost everything in the country seemed to stop for two minutes, while a radio audience of 40 million, among them President Franklin D. Roosevelt, listened in.
continue reading >If you are afraid to fail, stop here. Don’t waste your time reading the rest of this article. Please give this article to a more ambitious friend of yours.
continue reading >For Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, the worst year of their long effort to help inner-city children was probably 1997. They had created the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) in a Houston elementary school three years before.
continue reading >Angela Duckworth has done more than anyone else to popularize the term grit. While teaching low-income children, Duckworth became convinced that something besides IQ was a key factor in predicting success. What was this something else? Along with Martin Seligman, Duckworth, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has conducted studies to find that crucial ingredient. As a result of her studies, she has been called in by West Point to predict which cadets have what it takes to survive the tough atmosphere at the academy.
continue reading >The story of the world is mirrored in the history of words. And because that story is full of surprises and paradoxes, the words we use are bound to reflect that fact.
continue reading >What’s the secret to success? Intelligence? Wealth? Luck? According to the vast and growing advice industry, the secret to success is sheer tenacity.
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