The most dramatic moment in the history of philosophy must be Socrates being forced to drink hemlock. If one is asked to pick another moment that could rank high on drama, my submission would be Spinoza’s excommunication in 1656 by the Jewish community of Amsterdam. Spinoza’s parents landed up in the Netherlands after fleeing Spain … Continue reading Spinoza’s God
I spent a few days in Amsterdam earlier this month. Being my second visit to the city, I wasn’t overawed. (Awe has diminishing returns which is one of the key criticisms of travel). The Netherlands is proof that sea-level rise due to climate change is not going to be the end of the world. If … Continue reading Amsterdam Notes
In his latest work ‘The Age of Revolutions’, Fareed Zakaria argues that the world’s first revolution that transformed the relations between the state and its citizens and ushered in the modern ideas of liberalism was not the American, French or the English revolutions. It was instead the Dutch Golden Age. Feudalism never took root in … Continue reading England’s debt to the Dutch
