Archive for August, 2001

Ex-Hume-Ing the Truth

Posted August 1, 2001 By Dave Thomer

For all their differences, Descartes, Locke and Berkeley share one trait: they believe that it is possible to develop an argument that defeats skepticism and gives human knowledge a foundation of certainty. That optimism is not universal among philosophers, as David Hume makes clear in Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Hume is probably the most noted […]

Con Games

Posted August 1, 2001 By Dave Thomer

The worst thing about coming back from vacation is getting back to work. The best thing about coming back from vacation is telling people who didn’t go anywhere about what a great time you had. I figure if I combine the two and write a column about my vacation, I’ll come out somewhere in the […]

The Juror Is Out

Posted August 1, 2001 By Dave Thomer

I had the following dialogue at least a dozen times in the beginning of July: ME: I have to go downtown for jury selection on the tenth. OTHER PERSON: Oh, they’ll never pick you. Lawyers never pick jurors with too much education. I’ll be honest, I assumed the same thing, and I guess I can’t […]

Most of What Follows Is True

Posted August 1, 2001 By Dave Thomer

One of my graduate courses last spring was a seminar in what’s currently called “public history,” which pretty much covers any historically-grounded work that’s produced by and/or intended for an audience consisting of people outside the academic historical community. Museums, monuments, and commemorative memorabilia all fall into this category; so do many forms of historically-derived […]