Social Science

The word conscience’ is not used much these days. Even though we understand conscience as the awareness’ of a moral or ethical aspect to one’s conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong, as the saying goes “Let…
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Freedom is not just a potential opportunity to do the things that one openly chooses to do, because most human actions are predicated on primal instincts such as fear. Moreover, most of the things that one makes others do are…
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Whether we like it or not, our life is filled with both obvious and hidden conflicts that are usually caused by clashes between real interests and imaginary reasons. Life itself starts with conflict: the first cry of a baby, its…
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In 1971, a team of psychology researchers led by Philip Zimbardo studying how people respond to authority conducted what has become known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. This book is Zimbardo’s account of and reflections on that experiment almost forty…
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The Archaeology of Lake Baikal: Lake Baikal located in Siberia, is about 636 km long, 80 km wide and at 1,620 meters, nearly a mile deep, is the world’s deepest lake. Compared to the other great lakes of the world,…
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“Those who speak, do not know. Those who know, do not speak.” This Zen proverb points to the paradox of leadership: Efficient leaders are those who don’t really seem to be doing anything at all. If efficient means using resources…
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Mind maps, in the classical sense of webbing, drive me nuts. By the time I get the spokes constructed with all the important points, I can’t figure out what is important or where to start. For years I used lists…
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Because of his potent arguments that seek to dismantle the notion of “mental illness”, the maverick Hungarian born US psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz, has quite often and quite mistakenly been associated with the aims and philosophy of the 60’s anti-psychiatry movement…
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It can be really embarrassing when something sets you crying in public. One minute you are feeling fine, the next the tears are overflowing. What gets us is so personal. I found myself in tears at the overture of The…
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Brontophobia means fear (phobia) of thunder (bronto). When people talk about fear it can mean anything from a relatively mild state of discomfort to a situation bordering on, or including, outright panic. When there is no obvious threat to the…
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