Edutheria

My writing for my various blogs will follow various study projects I will be pursuing. Western Letters from Homer I will study the archaic poets Homer and Hesiod, the great Greek dramatists (Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides), the early historians (Herodotus, Xenophon and Thucydides), and continue on to Hellenistic, Roman, medieval, early modern, and recent authors. These readings will inform posts on The Sword and the Lie. Western Philosophy from Plato I will study western philosophy, starting with the Greeks. I will read all of Plato’s major works, starting with Ion. Then I’ll work through Aristotle, and then the “pre-Socratics” through references within the works Plato and Aristotle, and Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Philosophers and Hippolytus’ Refutation of All Heresies. I’ll then study Hellenistic philosophy via the works of Cicero and others. These readings will inform posts on Sensible Synthesis, insofar as they discuss epistemology and ethics, and Starving Edge, insofar as they discuss humanitarian ethics. Economics from the physiocrats I will study economics, starting with the 18th century French proto-economists the physiocrats (as well as their mercantalist opponents like Jean Babtiste Colbert.) I’ll then move on to Adam Smith and the classical economics he founded, as well as its opponents. This line of study will support posts in Starving Edge and The Sword and the Lie. Mathematics from properties of equality For Delphi, the blog for my education company The Sopheum (and to some degree for Sensible Synthesis), I shall discuss and explore mathematics from its most basic elements. Antiquity from Sumer From the first glimmers of history in Sumer, I shall explore the history of the state and religion (for The Sword and the Lie and of education (for Edutheria). Educational Philosophy from Plato For Delphi and Edutheria, I shall reflect on pedagogy and education systems. And finally… History of Science from Copernicus (for Delphi and Sensible Synthesis). History of Technology from hand axes (for Delphi).

Dear reader, I am a 29 year old educator based in the San Francisco Bay area. I have a great many ideas: about education, politics, economics, history and philosophy. In order to communicate and refine my ideas, today I am launching four blogs. The blogs will each have a central thesis, around which most of the posts will center. My intention is for each blog to be like a book, ever in progress: what I term a “perpetual book.” The perpetual books and their respective theses are the following: The Sword and the Lie That the state and religion are chiefly vehicles for aggrandizement through violence and deceit. The Starving Edge That liberty provides prosperity for all, particularly the poorest among us, and coercion engenders suffering. Edutheria That we as a society and as individuals could achieve so much more if education were not strangled by the state. The Sensible Synthesis This blog is intended to provide a philosophical underpinning for the other three. It will largely be about epistemology and ethics. Best Regards, Daniel Sanchez