Common Sense Ethics is turning 10! To celebrate the site's 10th birthday, a bit of reflection about why I started CSE, as well as a list of the best posts from the past decade, is in order. I've also included a throwback graphic above from the original site.
When I started the website back in 2013, I had no idea I'd spend 10 years on it, meet all kinds of friends from all over the world, and publish two books. But my motivation for writing has not changed much as the time has passed. Back in 2015 I wrote: "I started the blog because I'm genuinely concerned about a lot of the distressing behaviors and issues that we see in our society. I'm interested in discussing ethical and psychological issues that may be at the root of moral problems. I also enjoy presenting solutions that have helped me to build my own character and made me a happier person my own life. I hope that this blog will help others."
To celebrate, I've made a list of my favorite posts, one for each year. In some cases it was hard to choose my favorite, so I picked a runner up. These selections are not necessarily the most popular posts, but they are my personal favorites, and range in subject from the ethics of self-defense, philosophical maxims for growth, movies, Stoicism and Cynicism, books, TV shows, cognitive biases, Cicero's fortitude, propaganda, the divisiveness of partisan politics, taking risks for philosophy and freedom, the healing balm of the natural world, family, culture, and much more.
When I started the website back in 2013, I had no idea I'd spend 10 years on it, meet all kinds of friends from all over the world, and publish two books. But my motivation for writing has not changed much as the time has passed. Back in 2015 I wrote: "I started the blog because I'm genuinely concerned about a lot of the distressing behaviors and issues that we see in our society. I'm interested in discussing ethical and psychological issues that may be at the root of moral problems. I also enjoy presenting solutions that have helped me to build my own character and made me a happier person my own life. I hope that this blog will help others."
To celebrate, I've made a list of my favorite posts, one for each year. In some cases it was hard to choose my favorite, so I picked a runner up. These selections are not necessarily the most popular posts, but they are my personal favorites, and range in subject from the ethics of self-defense, philosophical maxims for growth, movies, Stoicism and Cynicism, books, TV shows, cognitive biases, Cicero's fortitude, propaganda, the divisiveness of partisan politics, taking risks for philosophy and freedom, the healing balm of the natural world, family, culture, and much more.
2013: What Everyone Needs to Know About Violence and Self-Defense
My favorite post from the first year of the blog's existence is this one about the ethics of self-defense, which got a lot of shares and engagement back at the time. The post explains why neither pro-aggression positions or naive pacifist positions on the ethics of violence are ideal, and I posit a third approach, non-aggression, which I argue is the most ethical.
Another point I make here is that very few people, even some thinkers credited with advocating for extreme pacifism for political purposes, actually believe in it on an individual level. Therefore, most Westerners who believe in extreme pacifism when it comes to individual self defense do so naively. Even Ghandi, who is not typically a reasonable pacifist, has moments where he admits to the necessity of self defense for individuals, particularly for those who aren't spiritually committed to self-immolation as he is.
A good read to clarify some of the inconsistencies surrounding the ethics of violence.
Another point I make here is that very few people, even some thinkers credited with advocating for extreme pacifism for political purposes, actually believe in it on an individual level. Therefore, most Westerners who believe in extreme pacifism when it comes to individual self defense do so naively. Even Ghandi, who is not typically a reasonable pacifist, has moments where he admits to the necessity of self defense for individuals, particularly for those who aren't spiritually committed to self-immolation as he is.
A good read to clarify some of the inconsistencies surrounding the ethics of violence.
2014: The Secret to Happiness: Stoic Gratitude
It was hard for me to select a post from 2014, because it was just after this time that my writing style and focus both shifted to include more about ancient philosophers such as the Stoics and Cynics. If I have to choose a post from this year, it would be this post which is the first thing I wrote about Stoicism, at a time when the modern Stoic movement was just getting started.
In the second half of 2014 and into 2015, I took a hiatus from the blog after the birth of my first child, since I didn't yet have the time management skills necessary to handle both, a task I can now easily manage as a veteran parent with two children and a part-time job. I suppose that parenting is the ultimate time management challenge, but I digress.
A runner up from that year would be this post about ethical themes, evil, and pacifism in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, where I correctly predicted that Daenerys would turn out to be a villain in the story, which was revealed when the show ended years later.
In the second half of 2014 and into 2015, I took a hiatus from the blog after the birth of my first child, since I didn't yet have the time management skills necessary to handle both, a task I can now easily manage as a veteran parent with two children and a part-time job. I suppose that parenting is the ultimate time management challenge, but I digress.
A runner up from that year would be this post about ethical themes, evil, and pacifism in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, where I correctly predicted that Daenerys would turn out to be a villain in the story, which was revealed when the show ended years later.
2015 - 4 Life Lessons We Can Learn from the Cynics
My Favorite post from 2015 when I started blogging again after my hiatus, is about the Cynics, who were ascetic philosophers of the Classical World. All that mattered to them was the practical applicability of wisdom. They were not concerned with theory and taught by the example of their lives, making a virtue of austerity, wit, and counter-culturalism.
The most famous Cynic, Diogenes, was known for his scathing social criticism. He often carried a lantern around Athens in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man. His teacher was Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates who declared, "I would rather be mad than feel pleasure." Diogenes took the message to heart, voluntarily rejecting property and opining that Godlike men have few wants in life.
We need not live a Cynic life ourselves to learn from the Cynic example. The best Cynic teachings offer us fabulous advice for practical living, which I describe in this post.
The most famous Cynic, Diogenes, was known for his scathing social criticism. He often carried a lantern around Athens in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man. His teacher was Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates who declared, "I would rather be mad than feel pleasure." Diogenes took the message to heart, voluntarily rejecting property and opining that Godlike men have few wants in life.
We need not live a Cynic life ourselves to learn from the Cynic example. The best Cynic teachings offer us fabulous advice for practical living, which I describe in this post.
2016 - Solomon Kane: Must See Fantasy Flick About the Surprising Paradox of Non-Violence
While this year saw one of my most viral and popular posts, How to Make Yourself Immune to Propaganda, it's another post written that year that is my favorite: Solomon Kane: Must See Fantasy Flick About the Surprising Paradox of Nonviolence.
Solomon Kane is based on books by the 1920s pulp writer Robert E. Howard. The character was adapted for film in 2009 by independent screenwriter and director Michael J. Bassett, starring James Purefoy in the title role. Far from being another film full of gratuitous violence, Solomon Kane explores a rather profound ethical question: when does adherence to nonviolence trump the moral and personal obligation to protect your life, or the lives of your family, from immanent harm?
This is an entertaining and thoughtful film that makes an excellent case for nonaggression as a philosophy. Non-aggression respects both the moral obligation that we have not to initiate violence against others, while simultaneously avowing the need for self defense and protection of loved ones should it arise.
I highly recommend seeing this movie and checking out the post as well.
Solomon Kane is based on books by the 1920s pulp writer Robert E. Howard. The character was adapted for film in 2009 by independent screenwriter and director Michael J. Bassett, starring James Purefoy in the title role. Far from being another film full of gratuitous violence, Solomon Kane explores a rather profound ethical question: when does adherence to nonviolence trump the moral and personal obligation to protect your life, or the lives of your family, from immanent harm?
This is an entertaining and thoughtful film that makes an excellent case for nonaggression as a philosophy. Non-aggression respects both the moral obligation that we have not to initiate violence against others, while simultaneously avowing the need for self defense and protection of loved ones should it arise.
I highly recommend seeing this movie and checking out the post as well.
2017: How to be a Badass According to Cicero
I've been writing my "According to Cicero," series of posts for many years, and this one is probably my favorite and among the most popular iterations. I'm often impressed by the fortitude displayed by some of the philosophers and statesmen of the Classical world.
Cicero seems to have been tough enough in the face of hardship. He was exiled, betrayed by his longtime wife, endured the sudden untimely death of his favorite daughter, and was eventually assassinated on account of his support for the Republic and opposition to Caesar and Mark Anthony.
Also excellent from 2017 are these two solutions oriented posts about escaping popular culture and creating your own personal culture and your own family culture in order to be happier. Highly recommended!
Cicero seems to have been tough enough in the face of hardship. He was exiled, betrayed by his longtime wife, endured the sudden untimely death of his favorite daughter, and was eventually assassinated on account of his support for the Republic and opposition to Caesar and Mark Anthony.
Also excellent from 2017 are these two solutions oriented posts about escaping popular culture and creating your own personal culture and your own family culture in order to be happier. Highly recommended!
2018: How Can we Overcome our Biases?
This is my favorite data-driven post from 2018 about the science and psychology of how people form convictions, cognitive biases that inhibit critical thinking/open-mindedness, and proven solutions for overcoming these cognitive biases in order to think more clearly.
A close second from 2018 is this growth-oriented post about the ancient practice of keeping a book of philosophical maxims at hand to use in times of need. This practice has helped me a lot when the going gets tough.
A close second from 2018 is this growth-oriented post about the ancient practice of keeping a book of philosophical maxims at hand to use in times of need. This practice has helped me a lot when the going gets tough.
2019: Why is Politics so Divisive?
Back in 2019, I wrote a popular post citing 7 reasons why politics has become so divisive, and the post continues to be relevant as this problem has only gotten worse since, among other things, the politicization of Covid policy, which should never have happened.
I am optimistic that there will be a return to a more Socratic way of doing things; a return to some sembalance of civility and reason. Perhaps if we are willing to look critically at why things have gotten so divisive, we may find some solutions to bring the sanity back to politics.
I also really like this post from 2019 about common end of life regrets of dying people, and how to change your life today to avoid these same mistakes.
I am optimistic that there will be a return to a more Socratic way of doing things; a return to some sembalance of civility and reason. Perhaps if we are willing to look critically at why things have gotten so divisive, we may find some solutions to bring the sanity back to politics.
I also really like this post from 2019 about common end of life regrets of dying people, and how to change your life today to avoid these same mistakes.
2020: Would You Risk Your Life for Philosophy?
I wrote this post in early 2020 after the death of one of my favorite philosophers, Roger Scruton. Scruton was a one of a kind iconoclastic thinker. Though a Burkean and a Traditionalist, he frequently wrote about bohemian subjects like art, sex and drinking. Courageous, funny, humble, he was a tireless advocate for "the true, the good and the beautiful." Scruton personally smuggled philosophy books to students behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980s, as these books were banned by various Communist regimes in Eastern Europe.
This also happened to be the last post that I wrote just before the madness of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, when the world quickly became unrecognizable.
Given the timing, it seems eerily prescient that I chose to quote Scruton's words, "...civil society can be killed from above, but it grows from below." Scruton's assertion here is applicable to any top-down state control, such as the the insanity of lockdown, where free association was basically destroyed on account of a virus that turned out to be less deadly than early models had shown. Yet that didn't stop the state in many places using Covid as an ongoing excuse for a power grab, the necessity of which seems highly debatable in hindsight.
This also happened to be the last post that I wrote just before the madness of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, when the world quickly became unrecognizable.
Given the timing, it seems eerily prescient that I chose to quote Scruton's words, "...civil society can be killed from above, but it grows from below." Scruton's assertion here is applicable to any top-down state control, such as the the insanity of lockdown, where free association was basically destroyed on account of a virus that turned out to be less deadly than early models had shown. Yet that didn't stop the state in many places using Covid as an ongoing excuse for a power grab, the necessity of which seems highly debatable in hindsight.
2021: How Propaganda Makes us Psychologically Totalitarian
In 2021, I republished my in-depth study of philosopher Jacques Ellul's book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, which I originally wrote for the lovely, but sadly now defunct Usio.com.
The 20th century witnessed both the rise of sophisticated psychological manipulation techniques and the technology necessary to disseminate them broadly, a trend which has continued into the 21st century. The French philosopher Jaques Ellul set out to study modern propaganda in the 1960s. What he found should be a warning to us all. Our inability to take propaganda and its effects seriously now seem to me like old chickens coming home to roost.
This post aims to condense and demystify Ellul's analysis, and to build on it by suggesting concrete ways in which we can avoid propaganda's detrimental effects.
The 20th century witnessed both the rise of sophisticated psychological manipulation techniques and the technology necessary to disseminate them broadly, a trend which has continued into the 21st century. The French philosopher Jaques Ellul set out to study modern propaganda in the 1960s. What he found should be a warning to us all. Our inability to take propaganda and its effects seriously now seem to me like old chickens coming home to roost.
This post aims to condense and demystify Ellul's analysis, and to build on it by suggesting concrete ways in which we can avoid propaganda's detrimental effects.
2022: The Top 5 Personality Traits Necessary for Resisting Social Pressure and How to Develop Them
There is immense pressure in all human societies to go along. Many of us are inclined to follow the majority or yield to social pressure because of our evolutionary biology. When our ancestors lived in tribes, we learned various skills by watching others and there were significant risks to our survival for being ostracized from the group.
If you want to learn to overcome societal pressure to go along with the group, you must develop the personality traits that I elaborate on in my favorite post of 2022.
A close runner up from 2022 is my War is Racket post about the true nature of war according to Marine Corps General Smedly Butler.
If you want to learn to overcome societal pressure to go along with the group, you must develop the personality traits that I elaborate on in my favorite post of 2022.
A close runner up from 2022 is my War is Racket post about the true nature of war according to Marine Corps General Smedly Butler.
2023: 5 Ways to Counterbalance an Ugly and Barren Cultural Landscape
My favorite post from this year is January's contribution about how many modern people are hurting from a lack of beauty, meaning, and wisdom in their lives and what we can do on our own to turn that around. If we want independence from the toxic values of popular culture, we can counterbalance those toxic values.
I really enjoyed writing the post and and I hope a lot more on this topic will follow soon.
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Thank you for all your love and support over the past 10 years!
I really enjoyed writing the post and and I hope a lot more on this topic will follow soon.
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Thank you for all your love and support over the past 10 years!
