Tag Archives: History

Neanderthals and the beginnings of us

Posted on April 20, 2019 by

The Smithsonian has an interesting article up on what we currently know about Neanderthals.  The article details some of the internecine battles that always seems to be a part of the paleoanthropology field, in this case focusing on the capabilities … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Big societies came before big gods

Posted on March 24, 2019 by

Some years ago I reviewed a book by Ara Norenzayan called Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict.  Norenzayan’s thesis was that it was a belief in big gods, specifically cosmic gods that cared about human morality, that enabled … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | Tagged , , , , , , | 35 Comments

The soul of the Roman Empire

Posted on April 25, 2018 by

According to tradition, in the early days of ancient Rome, King Numa Pompilius established a religious institution: the Vestal Virgins.  The Vestal Virgins were chaste priestesses of Vesta, the goddess of home and hearth.  Their duty was to maintain the … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , , , , | 41 Comments

Breakthroughs in imagination

Posted on September 9, 2017 by

When thinking about human history, it’s tempting to see some developments as inevitable.  Some certainly were, but the sheer amount of time before some of them took place seem to make them remarkable. The human species, narrowly defined as Homo … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

America’s long path to universal voting rights

Posted on December 26, 2016 by

My memory of what I learned in early grade school about the history of American voting rights went something like this.  Prior to 1776, we were ruled by the king of Great Britain.  He was a tyrant who oppressed us … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Lessons from the election of 1824 and Silvio Berlusconi

Posted on November 26, 2016 by

Understandably, a lot of people continue to be upset about the results of this election.  One thing that keeps coming up in my feeds are people advocating for the electoral college to change that result.  The idea is that if … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Early access to exit poll data, universal suffrage, and other election ruminations

Posted on November 7, 2016 by

So, tomorrow is election day here in the US.  If you’re a US citizen and you haven’t voted yet, now’s the time to make plans.  As I noted in the last post, this is not the year to sit the … Continue reading →

Posted in Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Why the US two party system is so entrenched

Posted on September 8, 2016 by

The other day, I came across this Big Think explanation by historian Sean Wilentz on why the US always seems to gravitate to a two party system. Unfortunately, while I think Wilentz touches on the main points, his explanation doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Society | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Is there a moral arc to history?

Posted on June 20, 2016 by

The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. As someone who isn’t able to find an objective basis for morality, I’ve often wondered what that means for the above statement from Martin Luther King.  It certainly … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Morality | Tagged , , , , , , , | 33 Comments

When did the Roman Empire actually fall?

Posted on May 30, 2016 by

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, for which apparently there is now a Muslim debate about whether it fulfilled Muhammad’s charge for Muslims to conquer that city.  I can’t say I have any opinion in … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments