History of Political Thought (Ancient and Modern)

Дундад эртний Монголын улс төрийн сэтгэлгээний түүхэнд Дай Юань улсын хаан Хубилай Сэцний зохиож олны хүртээл болгосон гэх «Арван буянт номын цагаан түүх» нэрт зохиол онцгой байр суурь эзэлдэг. Юуны түрүүнд, уг зохиолд төрийг засах хос ёсны онолыг тэгш хэмээр хөгжүүлсэн байна. Үүний зэрэгцээ, Самгард соёлын нөлөө Төвөдийн үзэл санаагаар уламжлагдан цэгцтэй үзэл баримтлал болж тусгагдсан байдаг. Гэвч улсын эзэн Хубилай ганц биеэр «Арван буянт номын цагаан түүх» зохиолыг бүтээсэн хэмээн бичих нь аль ч талаас авч үзсэн их л ташаа хэрэг болох бөгөөд улсын багш Пагва блам Лодойжалцан тэргүүтэй эрдэмтэн мэргэд бүрнээ гар, бие оролцсон байх нь дамжиггүй. Харин ч дээрх тайлбарыг хураан засамжилж, Сэцэн хаан Хубилайн удирдлага дор эрдэмтэн мэргэд чуулан бүтээв гэх нь ончтой тайлбар болов уу. Хубилай хаан золгүй хөвүүнээс улсын эрхийг булаан 1267 онд нийслэл хотоо өмөнш нүүлгэж 1271 онд улсын нэрийг Дай Юань хэмээн өргөв. Ингэснээр Монголын эзэнт гүрэн олон үндэстнийг эрхшээн хураасан их гүрэн, өнөөгийн ойлголтоор эзэнт гүрэн болж хувирсан билээ. Харин тэрхүү шинэ мандсан эзэнт гүрний төрийн үзэл суртал нь хоёр ёсны сургаал байсан бөгөөд хоёр ёсны сургаалын тухай цэгцтэй ойлголт өгөх зорилгоор бүтээсэн туурвил нь мөнөөхөн «Арван буянт номын цагаан түүх» болно. Ерөнхий бичиглэл, өгүүлэмжийн хувьд Энэтхэг, Төвөдийг эх сурвалж түшиглэн бичигдсэн байх тун магадлалтай. Энэ талаар ч бүтээлийн эхэнд дурдсан байна. Зохиолын үндсэн санаа нь улс иргэнийг номын засаг, хааны засаг гэх хоёр засагт тэгш хэмээр захируулах нийцтэй гэх үзлийг хөгжөөсөнд оршино. Өрнө Дахины хэллэгээр бол иргэний болон шашны засаг харилцан эелэлдэж, дээр, доорын ялгал үгүй улс гэрийг амаржуулахад эрх тэгш оролцох тухай үзэл санаа болно. Энэ тухай цагаан түүх-д «Дээд тэнгэрийн заяагаар үүдэж, дэлхий дахиныг эзлэн төрсөн тэнгэрлэг суут Богд Чингис хаан Хөх Монгол улсаас эхлэн Замбуутив дэх гурван зуун жаран нэгэн хэлтэн, долоон зуун хорин нэгэн овогтны таван өнгө, дөрвөн харь, арван зургаан их улсыг нэгэн төрд оруулж, эртний Олноо өргөгдсөн хаанаас нааш эрхэт хаадын эндүүрэлгүй хоёр ёсоор иргэн ородыг зассаныг санаж үлгэрлэн үлэмж дээд бурхны шашныг шүтэж, өчүүхэн хаадыг тойддоон оруулж, үнэнхүү хоёр ёсыг эндүүрэлгүй явуулсны хойно, Хубилай Чакраварти Сэцэн хаан таван өнгө, харь ерөнхийн улс гэрийг амуулахын тул Төвөдийг гурван чакраварти хааны хуулиас үүсгэж эндүүрэлгүй хоёр ёсыг шинэтгэн явуулснаас, бас үлгэрлэн байгуулсан дээд шашны үндсэн номын эзэн блам ба их төрийн эрхэм ертөнцийн эрхэт хаан хийгээд, үнэн номын засаг хивийн зангиа мэт алдаршгүй, хүнд хааны засаг алтан буулга мэт эвдэршгүй үнэн хоёр ёсыг тэгшит эндүүрэлгүй явуулахын товчоо Арван буянт номын цагаан түүх болой» (МУИС-МХСС. Эх бичиг-Алтай Судлалын Тэнхим, 2006, хууд. 21) хэмээн бичжээ. Хэдийгээр Монгол газраа Нирун улсын үеэс буддын шашин машид хөгжиж, олон иргэнд зүрхний наран болсон ч энэ мэт Хубилай хаан лугаа адил бүтээж хөгжөөхийн чанагш утга дайлгасан нь нэгээхэн бээр үгүй билээ. Сэцэн хаан улс гэрийг амаржуулж, ард олныг жаргаахын тул буддын суртхаалын гүн үнэнийг танин мэдэж улсдаа хөгжөөхийг чухалчилсан байна. Зохиолын бичвэрт номын болон хааны засаг нэг нэгнээсээ хараат бус бөгөөд тус тусын хэрэгт үл халиахыг номлосон бус, гагцхүү харилцан эелэлдэж,

Аквино газрын Фома — Италийн католиг урсгалын гүн ухаантан, улс төрийн сэтгэгч, домниканы санваартан, баруун Европын олон их сургуульд багшилж байсан нэгэн. Цадиг намтар. Фома 1225, буюу 1226 онд Неапол хотын зэргэлдээ орших Аквино цайзад Ландольфо гүнгийн гэрт мэндэлсэн. Эртний сурвалжит язгуурт тэрээр Фридрих Барбароссагийн ач хүү билээ. Өөрөөр хэлбэл, Фома норманд, ломбард цустай нэгэн байжээ. Хүүг нялхад нь Томазо (Грекээр — Фома гэх үг) нэрээр загалмайлсан байна. Фома багын л удаан хөдөлгөөнтэй, амар амгалан төрхтэй, нүсэр биетэй нэгэн байжээ. Тиймдээ ч түүнийг багачууд «хөшүүн бух» хэмээн хочилдог байв. Фомагийн багш Их Альбэрт нэгэнтээ «энэ хөшүүн бух бүх дэлхийгээр нэг мөөрөх болно» гэж айлдсан байдаг. Эхэндээ Фома католиг шашны сургуульд суралцаж, дараагаар нь, II Фридрихийн үүсгэн байгуулсан Неаполийн их сургуульд элсэн оржээ. Неаполд байхдаа гүн хэргэмээсээ татгалзаж, ядуу санваартны домникан бүлгэмд нэгдэж орсон байна. Гэтэл түүний гэр бүл энэ явдалд онцгой зэвүүрхэн хандаж, тодорхой хугацаанд Фомаг гэрийн хорионд байлгажээ. Эрх чөлөөтэй болсны сүүлээр Фома домникан үзэлтэн Их Альбэртийн удирдлага дор эхлээд Париж хотноо, дараа нь Кёльн хотноо үргэлжлүүлэн суралцсан байна. Энэ үеийн домникан бүлгэмийн гол зорилго нь «силлогизмуудын тусламжтайгаар» тэрслүү нартай тэмцэхэд оршиж байв. 1252 онд домникан

"Rousseau: Ciudadano sin patria", aborda una de las principales inquietudes intelectuales de su autor, a saber, las implicaciones políticas del abandono del concepto teleológico de naturaleza. Al separarse las tendencias opuestas de libertad y autoconservación, que dicho concepto trataba de unificar, surgen dos posiciones políticas antagónicas que tratan de imponerse: la izquierda y la derecha, los "liberals & conservatives". Mientras los primeros representan la emancipación del individuo —el denominado por Freud principio del deseo— los segundos luchan por la seguridad, por el mantenimiento de las condiciones de conservación —el principio de realidad freudiano. La singularidad de Rousseau consiste en haber encarnado de un modo ejemplar ambas tendencias, convirtiéndose en precursor de todas las grandes posiciones políticas de la Modernidad.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Fundamental Political Writings includes the Social Contract, Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, and “Preface to Narcissus.” Each text has been newly translated, and includes a full complement of explanatory notes. The editors’ introduction offers students diverse points of entry into some of the distinctive possibilities and challenges of each of these fundamental texts, as well as an introduction to Rousseau’s life and historical situation, from his early years in Geneva to his final years in relative solitude. Each text is accompanied by images from the original editions. The volume also includes annotated appendices that help students to explore the origins and influences of Rousseau’s work, including excerpts from Hobbes, Pascal, Descartes, Mandeville, Diderot, Voltaire, Madame de Staël, Benjamin Constant, Joseph de Maistre, Kant, Hegel, and Engels.

http://www.eduff.uff.br/index.php/catalogo/livros/996-democracia

Com a tradução dos textos de Aristóteles no século XIII, o termo grego
“democracia” foi introduzido na língua latina e se tornou um elemento
central para a compreensão dos fenômenos políticos modernos. A
inclusão de “democracia” no latim medieval e, em seguida, nas várias
línguas da Europa moderna permitiu designar com esse termo realidades
completamente diversas daquelas pensadas originalmente. Não apenas
se começou a falar de “democracia” e de “democrático” a partir de fenômenos e personagens do mundo moderno e contemporâneo, mas foi
assim denominado o momento inicial da vida política, ou certas realidades
primitivas, distantes da Grécia antiga. Na época das revoluções e no período
de difusão das ideias socialistas, o termo assumiu uma função polêmica,
antes de se consolidar no âmbito da reflexão política entre os séculos XIX e
XX. As tentativas reiteradas de conferir novos significados ao conceito de
democracia, até os dias atuais, colocam em evidência o caminho distinto
seguido por esse termo, por entre os vocábulos políticos de origem antiga,
e o processo ininterrupto de “invenção dos antigos” – de construção da
tradição e de definição de nossa herança política. Esse volume permite
compreender a construção ideológica de uma continuidade democrática
pensada como europeia e ocidental.

Leo Strauss è stato uno dei filosofi della politica più influenti del Novecento e un raffinato lettore dei classici, da Platone a Machiavelli, da Tucidide a Hobbes, da Maimonide a Spinoza. Ma la figura di Strauss è stata talvolta associata alle politiche dei neoconservatori americani, che tanto peso hanno avuto nell’amministrazione Bush e nella guerra in Iraq. Ma chi era allora Strauss? Affascinato dal sionismo e dalla filosofia greca classica, dall’umanesimo tedesco e dalla filosofia araba medievale, Strauss è un pensatore solitario che fa della reticenza la propria cifra stilistica. Questo volume è la prima biografia intellettuale – a livello internazionale – che ricostruisce integralmente la sua vita e il suo pensiero, dalla sua adolescenza nella Germania di Weimar fino all’esilio in Francia, Inghilterra e Stati Uniti a causa dell’avvento del nazismo. Questa condizione di esilio non riguarda solo la sua vita, ma anche il carattere fondamentale del suo pensiero, che si snoda su una linea di frontiera tra filosofia e politica, tra Atene e Gerusalemme, per giungere alla definizione del filosofo come straniero, perché è colui che vive in esilio anche quando vive nella propria città.

The aim of this article is to explore Gadamer’s early reflections on Plato’s
utopian thought and its potential topicality. In the following section, I will show how
areté, understood as a hermeneutical and existential virtue, is dialectically related to
ethics and politics in Gadamer’s phenomenological reception of Plato’s philosophy. I
argue that, in Gadamer’s eyes, Socratic-Platonic self-understanding enables human
beings to be aware of their political responsibilities, to recognize how they are
existentially and mutually related to the other, and to clarify dialectically their own
existential possibilities in order to transcend their inherited world of values. In the
third section, I aim to show how these are the grounds on which Gadamer’s initial
thoughts on the utopian dimension of Platonic political philosophy developed, mainly
through his further critical account of the works on the German “political Plato”
published in Germany between 1927 and 1933, i.e., Kurt Singer’s Platon, der Gründer
(1927), Julius Stenzel’s Platon. Der Erzieher (1928), and Kurt von Hildendrandt‘s Platon,
Der Kampf des Geistes um die Macht (1933). Then, in the fourth section, I will express my
own views on the relevance of reconsidering how the notions of areté, phrónesis, and
andreía are already related in Plato’s dialogues, complementing the insights on
Gadamer’s interpretation of areté in section two. My purpose is to go beyond
Gadamer’s reading and provide us with a more solid ground to address his late
reflections on political courage and its relations with his dialectical understanding of
Platonic utopia as a myth. Therefore, I will explore the problem of civil disobedience,
a topic that was actually not at the centre of Gadamer’s concerns, as a genuine mode
of utopian political action which can enact a true deviation from the sophistic pólis and
its understanding of power. Finally, in the conclusion, I will characterize Gadamer’s
portrait of Platonic utopia as a dialectical myth which enables human beings to
recognize when politics are being reduced to mere power abuse by the State and also
suggest why Gadamer’s approach to utopias is still relevant today

Iamblichus’ Exhortation to Philosophy (Protrepticus),  the second volume in a ten-volume Pythagorean Encyclopedia, of which four volumes are extent,  is noted  mainly as a source of eclectic extracts from the protreptic literary form. Iamblichus does however contribute succinct connecting commentary paragraphs that as this paper intends to partly demonstrate, situate the excerpts into his own philosophical system. This paper proposes to examine two of such passages from chapter twenty, source of the Anonymous Iamblichi , a political text from the 4th century BC, both passages dealing with a certain concept of law (nomos), and will attempt to arrive at some conclusions as to what extent these passages represent Iamblichus’ views on political philosophy.

To situate things in the Protrepticus , chapter nineteen contains prominent Platonic ethical, social, political considerations from the Gorgias (506c-508a),  the Menexenus  (246d-248b) and Laws II (661d). Therefore, inclusion of the late fourth fifth century sophistic social political text that is the Anonymous Iamblichi ,  into chapter 20 can be seen, on one level,  as a continuation of themes presented more explicitly in the previous chapter. According to Des Places, the purpose of that text is to present simpler economic and political considerations for a wider, more popular audience appeal (Protreptique 19). Moreover, according to Cole, the text if not directly, at least thematically, has had an appeal to other Platonist-oriented philosophers.

Cole makes many suggestive comparisons of the Anonymous with book two of Cicero’s On Duties, which is mainly derived from Panaetius, and which contains a more elaborate discussion of themes similar to the Anonymus text.  Furthermore, Des Places has described the Platonistic aspects of Panaetius that can be found in book I of Cicero’s On Duties  (Platonisme 259-69).  Cole also notes that, if the attribution of the text to a follower of Democritus is correct,    then the frequent associating of Democritus with Pythagoreanism could have caused to text to be placed in a Pythagorean compilation accessible to Iamblichus.  The emphasis on the importance of childhood education in acquiring virtue,  what constitutes an honourable life,  dream psychology,  the importance of following laws for social stability,  Protagorean anthropological speculation , theories of tyranny  are elements that would give the treatise a Platonist-friendly appeal. Moreover, the use of simple, dualistic opposites could appeal to  the outlook of Pythagorean-influenced  Platonism found in the  Phaedo and Gorgias.

In Aristotle’s political thought, innovation is “acceptable” when it is achieved in the name of the common good and when the benefit is great. Against the notion that political and legal innovation may be either absolutely beneficial or absolutely harmful, Aristotle discusses concrete instances such as the size of the benefit the innovation produces, the aim of whoever proposes the new action and the need to exercise political control over every innovation. The lexical and conceptual dyad represented by the verbs kainotomein (to seek the new) and kinein (to change radically) allows us to follow Aristotle’s thinking and to identify the univocal result it reaches, both when it addresses theoretical proposals for innovation as well as examples of innovation that have already been implemented.

Βασιλείου-Δαμβέργης, Αλέξανδρος-Νεκτάριος, Ιω. «Η πολιτική φιλοσοφία του Δημοκρίτου και η ελληνική πόλις-κράτος: συγκριτική θεώρηση και επίκαιρες προεκτάσεις για την Ελλάδα και την Ευρώπη του 21ου αιώνα», Πρακτικά 3ου Πανελληνίου Συνεδρίου Πολιτικής Φιλοσοφίας, Θεσσαλονίκη 27-29 Απριλίου 2018, Καβάλα 2020, σ. 49-61.

Nel suo Panegirico, Plinio insiste in più passaggi sul ruolo del princeps come exemplar: tale topos si riconnette all'esaltazione di Traiano come optimus princeps; nello sgtesso tempo, costituisce una implicita esaltazione di un ruolo monarchico per Traiano, come mostra il confronto con il pensiero politico greco di IV secolo a.C. (Platone, Senofonte, Isocrate).

Starting from a passage in the “Life of Tacitus” (Scriptores Historia Augusta) where Maecius Faltonius Nicomachus invites the colleagues to welcome the election of an elderly emperor, this paper examines how Late Antiquity perceived the relationship between mature age and good government. It analyses the debate between the candidate, reluctant to accept the office, and some colleagues who encourage him citing examples of capable though elderly rulers, while also contrasting the ideal emperor’s portrait found in the text to the image of Numa as seen in Roman Historiography. Besides the mature age-good government equation along with the child aversion emerging in another passage, perhaps related to real 4th century situations, it discusses the possibility that behind emperor Tacitus’ portrait might be the memory of Eugenius, the magister scrinii, so admired for his learning and nominated emperor despite his indifference to the purple.

In his incarnation as 'Morus' in Utopia, Thomas More asserts his profound disagreement with his fictional character, Raphael Hythlodaeus. Whereas Hythlodaeus extols the merits of commonality and the moral value of pleasure, Morus dismisses the whole project as absurdity, or hopeless wishful thinking. This divergence has been variously interpreted, but mostly played down. This paper argues that the civilized, amicable, and yet genuine discord between Raphael Hythlodaeus and Morus is the key to Utopia. We can appreciate its importance only if we understand who Hythlodaeus is, and what the purpose of the dialogue is. We also have to do justice to Thomas More's politics, which were grounded on the authority of the Christian tradition, in the Old and the New Testament. Over the years, Thomas More maintained a very clear and consistent line of thought on the legitimacy of worldly wealth, the responsibilities inherent in its management, the imperative to curb their enjoyment, the temptation of 'business' and greed, the duty of charity, and the value of penance, remorse, prayer, and other kinds of self-inflicted suffering. In A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, Anthony, the wiser character, conveys Thomas More's relentless praise of pain. Anthony has the last word. So, too, does Morus.

The multi-faceted notion of politeia as a lens on Aristotle’s ideas about politics and history is the organizing focus of this monograph in Araucaria which unites essays by philosophers, historians and political theorists. What issues are focused on? The historical qualities of the research on the politeiai in relation to the Aristotelian judgement on history (Mara, Poddighe); the use of the politeiai as paradeigmata for the correction of the existing regimes and for the creation of new ones by lawgivers and politicians, be they real models (Pezzoli, Zizza) or theoretical elaborations (Sancho Rocher); Aristotle’s ethical reflection on the principles that give unity and stability to the politeia, in particular the democratic ones (Irrera) and Aristotle’s analysis on a pragmatic way to settle the problem of stasis with political means (Knoll); and, finally, the method of Aristotelian research on the politeiai (Polito).

My thanks to Bernard Manin. Using an older operating system and older version of Word, I just retrieved an almost-lost document from perhaps 1997, which consists of comments by Bernard Manin on this summary and my responses. So I should have mentioned him in acknowledgements. Who knows who else I have failed to acknowledge. Probably Russell Hardin and Richard Kraut. I will try to figure it out later. If Microsoft had not made older Word documents un-openable, I would know better.

New and improved. / The origins of this essay are a bit earlier than what the first footnote says. I just looked in my files. I kept many of the early versions. It did begin as a review of Melissa Lane's book. The earliest versions were called "Plato's Political Science" or later "The Concept of Political Science in Plato." The earliest version I have in my files is a two page (single spaced) item dated August 9, 1999. I see that in Sept. 16, the essay had been substantially expanded, and from then I am intensively revising it, sometimes more than once per day. My method then was to print out the essay, make handwritten modifications in a coffee shop, and then type in the changes later. A lot of work must have happened between August 9 and September 16. At some point, I decided to add information about Aristotle. But I had already written on Aristotle's political science, both for a chapter in the 1996 dissertation and an appendix on "Political Science Before Aristotle." That appendix included Plato and the Sophists, so it was the antecedent of the essay. And my investigation into what Aristotle meant by political science began with a class presentation I made for a 1994 course on the Nicomachean Ethics by Arthur W. H. Adkins. He later became one of my official dissertation advisors. I consulted him more than anyone else. He was especially helpful with respect to making sense of some of the Greek.

Over the past fifteen years, Hungarian literary historians have outlined an idea of an interdisciplinary researchprogram that aimed at exploring
the ear!y modem history of Hungarian political thinking. One of the most important elements of the proposed work has been to ensure the availability of the texts to he analysed (or analysable} for the purposes of research. The texts to he considered for research purposes are coming from highly various genres. One of the less well-known and less exploited types of texts to he analysed are pamphlets (disputations) that are related to the politics of the period and that educated the dozens of Hungarian peregrinating students who were raised in the 17th century. Contemporary students could gain an insight through these texts and disputes into one of the most popular disciplines of the era, the fundamentals of political science.
The study and its annex attempt to identify all the disputations that were protected by students from Hungary or Transylvania at a university
of Germany and the Netherlands in thee 17th century. It give: an overview of the role of the disputes in the education and their place in contemporary political science. It compares the features available from the database of 3000 disputes protected at German universities with the similar data from its own collection. In these so far underrated works, we should recognize the first traces of theoretical foundation of the Hungarian poltical thinking.

Every democracy, ancient and modern, endures the tension between two contrasting principles. The first is the egalitarian one: it is only right that all members of the community have an equal opportunity to contribute to decisions that affect everyone in that community. The second principle asserts that political regimes are rightful only if they ensure the common good (a valid idea for a democrat, too): from this point it follows that it is right that only those most capable, necessarily few, decide for all. The purpose of this essay is to rebuild the reasonings by which, in the Greek world of the fifth century BC, the democrats claimed the validity of democracy as a form of government not only 'just', but above all 'capable of governing well': against the anti-democratic tradition according to which good governance could not be achieved by a regime in which the vote of a carpenter, a cobbler, a rough peasant, weighed as much as that of a member of the elites. Almost always the texts at our disposal offer us only quick hints, minimal argumentative fragments: but these fragments, placed side by side, reveal an intimate and unexpected mutual consistency. Thus five 'democratic theses' emerge, interconnected with each other: therefore we can deduce the actual existence of a 'democratic theory of democracy' in the Greek world aimed at showing how the government of the many is more effective than the government of the few better ones (or self-styled such). At the same time, surprising and enlightening consonance is evident with modern and contemporary political thought: since, even after thousands of years, similar theoretical problems lead to necessarily similar reasonings.

En este trabajo se estudian los usos de la historia entre los miembros de la familia Kagan. Una familia neoconservadora cuyos integrantes han sido formados como historiadores y que destacan como analistas y asesores en materia de relaciones internacionales. En efecto, los Kagan han cumplido un rol trascendente en la escena pública, desde su labor académica, hechos proselitistas, participación mediática y acción política. Sin embargo, poca atención ha despertado el armazón teórico que sus miembros despliegan en cada una de sus producciones intelectuales y que van más allá de la erudición histórica. Sea que escriban sobre la Grecia clásica, la guerra en Irak, el gobierno de Donald Trump o el ejército soviético, en el fondo siempre está presente una visión clara de la política interestatal y las relaciones internacionales. Por tanto, aquí se afirma que la historia, por analogía, permite usar la misma como ejemplo y, a través de los conceptos, como modelo. En otras palabras, la historia funciona como laboratorio de pruebas, como el lugar donde ir a corroborar sus afirmaciones teórico-políticas en defensa del orden (neo) liberal, sus interpretaciones sobre la coyuntura y sus vaticinios sobre el porvenir.

Esej z 2009 roku, dotyczący polskiej debaty nad dziedzictwem politycznym I Rzeczypospolitej w kontekście idei republikanizmu, polityki historycznej/polityki pamięci i „neosarmatyzmu”. Podsumowuje najważniejsze wątki dyskusji z lat 2004 – 2008. Poruszane wtedy tematy i zajmowane stanowiska zachowały ważność także w kolejnych latach. Tekst niepublikowany.

An essay written in 2009, concerning the Polish intellectual debate on the political heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It touches topics like the idea of republicanism and its validity, policy towards the past, memory studies. The covered period extends roughly from 2004 to 2008, but the discussed ideas, opinions and standpoints remained important also in the next years. Unpublished.

A critique of "The Politics of Cosmology," a thousand-page manuscript by social ecologist and political theorist Murray Bookchin, based on his study of the history of philosophy and his lectures on that topic. It appears on my PM Press blog and my "It Is What It Isn't" blog from Changing Suns Press.