Category Archives: Society

The Times, They Are A’Changin’

Posted on June 18, 2018 by hessd

Count on it. Let’s take as an example the Roaring Twenties and the Stodgy Fifties. [1]  The 20s were a time for experimentation and throwing away traditional norms.  The 50s were a time of recovering from that and reacquiring those … Continue reading →

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The Zipper

Posted on May 2, 2018 by hessd

One of the lines for which Thomas Hobbes is justly famous is that life without a strong central government (Leviathan, he said) is “solitary, nasty, poor, brutish, and short.”  [1] What he meant is that one of government’s prized functions … Continue reading →

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Racism and Sexism, treated by The Good Doctor.

Posted on January 25, 2018 by hessd

If you were here, I would dearly love to turn to you, as I did to Bette, and say, “What just happened?” Here is what I think happened. In the first season of The Good Doctor, they have developed a … Continue reading →

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Do revolutions eat their children?

Posted on December 18, 2017 by hessd

Usually, yes. They do. I don’t think it is unavoidable, though, and I’d like to think about it with you today. The “revolution” I have in mind today isn’t really a revolution in the strict sense; it is the women’s … Continue reading →

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The sensible pursuit of class goals

Posted on November 26, 2017 by hessd

What is a “class goal?” When I was in high school, one of the traditions was to collect money so that the graduating senior class could give a gift to the school. We did the same thing in college. The … Continue reading →

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It’s a PG sort of coffee shop

Posted on November 21, 2017 by hessd

In Sam Raimi’s film, For the Love of the Game, he sets up a scene in an airport bar. An insensitive boor begins regaling the woman on the barstool next to him with his extensive knowledge of the Yankees. [1] … Continue reading →

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Is “the good doctor” candid?

Posted on October 14, 2017 by hessd

You can ask questions so that they are easy or so that they are hard. This one seems hard to me. [1] The doctor—the titular doctor in the new ABC series, The Good Doctor—is a very young man. Also autistic. … Continue reading →

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Ebb Tide

Posted on October 12, 2017 by hessd

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide … Continue reading →

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Albert Peterson’s Dilemma

Posted on September 28, 2017 by hessd

I want to introduce to you today a fictional businessman, Albert Peterson. [1] Peterson is a good guy in a bad situation. Peterson is the head of Personnel for a U. S. manufacturing firm, engaged in vicious competition with other … Continue reading →

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Peter Stearns is “my guy” for gender roles

Posted on September 23, 2017 by hessd

Stearns recently retired as Provost at George Mason University, in Virginia. He is still teaching and still writing. That’s good news for me. In this very partial introduction to Stearns’ thinking, I’d like to tell you why I take it … Continue reading →

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