I’m not certain where I first arrived at the idea of observing the Ramadan fast, although it likely came up during my research over the past couple years. Primarily, it was a simple matter of curiosity, as is the case with many things in my life, so I approached it as a sort of spiritual experiment. I didn’t have any specific outcomes in mind, but I thought that it might serve as a means of structuring my life and imposing order on a world that presently seems more chaotic than usual, and as well, an opportunity to take a break from some of my favorite indulgences.
Month: May 2020
American Mythology: Capitalism, pt. 2
In my last essay, I took a general survey of the history and philosophy of capitalism as formulated by Adam Smith in the aforementioned book, which is usually referred to by the shortened title of The Wealth of Nations. If you haven’t listened to that episode, I highly recommend checking that out before continuing with this one, in which I intend to begin looking at critiques of capitalism.
American Mythology: Capitalism
I’m continuing this week with my American Mythology series, which explores the myths present in contemporary American philosophical and political thought. My objective in my explorations of religious texts has been to demonstrate that what is said of the texts and what they actually contain are often two very different things, and my objective in these essays is essentially the same, only addressing political theory instead of sacred texts, but as I’ve described in the previous two essays in this series, political theory and religion are themselves not very distant from each other and often there’s considerable overlap. I’ve looked at the myths surrounding the way in which the Americas were first conquered and colonized and the myths about American freedom as related to the philosophical influence of John Locke on the American political sphere, and now I’m turning to the myths embedded in American capitalism.