In this episode of the Moral Imagination Podcast I speak with Catherine Pakaluk about her book Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth Over the last 200 years, we have seen a decline in birth rates in the United States and abroad, especially in Western countries. Most European countries are no longer at replacement rates and f…

Photo Credit: Tyler Follon - Wingman Visuals In this episode of the Moral Imagination Podcast, I speak with Professor William Easterly of New York University about his work in development economics, and the problems of technocracy and social engineering of the poor. Easterly worked at the World Bank from 1985-2001 and began to be troubled by a numb…

Source: Wikimedia Commons Joy Cannot Be Grasped What makes a good life? How can we be happy? Pleasure? Wealth? Honor or Fame? Aristotle argued that all play a role in happiness, but none of these suffice. Pleasure is obviously fleeting. Wealth is always acquired for the sake of something else – a house, a nice car, influence. Honor and fame rely on…

Photo by Shashi Chartuvedula on Unsplash This episode of the Moral Imagination Podcast is a talk I gave at AmPhil’s Center for Civil Society conference in November, 2023 on the “Rise of the Nones.” According to Pew Research, those who declare no religious affiliation - None - are now the largest religious category in the United States. In this talk…