Category: Social Science
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
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May 1, 2026
Thanks to Chinyere Okoh, a 2026 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s blog.
Beyond the Silence
by Chinyere Okoh
I find myself alone in a still room,
where shadows seem to stretch and exhale with me.
The quiet carries a single, fragile question that lingers in the air:
Where am I?
The voice feels both distant and familiar,
as though it belongs to me and yet echoes from somewhere beyond. » Read more about: Rebuilding Connections: Book Review of Together by Vivek H. Murthy, MD »
November 21, 2025
Thanks to Rachel D. Perez, a 2025 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
Barbie: The Movie sparked a wide range of conversations—from gender roles and identity to free will and power. But what struck me most wasn’t the obvious. It was the subtle, yet profound, commentary on the branding of liberation. That scene in the Mattel boardroom, where executives discuss how to “brand” freedom through Barbie—along with Gloria’s projections onto Barbie and Barbie’s own misconceptions of freedom—left me thinking about how we,
» Read more about: Aspiring, Achieving, and Unraveling: The Branding of Liberation »
August 29, 2025
Thanks to Estella Achinko, a 2025 HMU Fellow in Ideas, for today’s blog.
I have always been fascinated by the way nations rise and fall. Whether it’s the brutal rule of totalitarian regimes in Europe, the iron-fisted dictatorships of Africa, or the complex democracy of the United States, governance has remained a delicate, often unpredictable experiment. History does not provide a single blueprint for a successful state—only cautionary tales and fleeting moments of prosperity.
» Read more about: The Success of a Nation: Rethinking the Ideal State »
April 4, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
As an entry point into the great idea of “Family,” Adler quotes Rousseau who claims that family is “the most ancient of all societies and the only one that is natural.” Adler then explains that by natural he means something to the effect of either “instinctive” or “necessary.” Rousseau continues that children stay with parents only as long as is necessary.
December 1, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
We’ve all done it. Looking for quick information on some random subject, we inevitably turn to Wikipedia. Created in 2001, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia open to edits, a collaborative effort. Merriam-Webster defines “wiki” as “a website that allows visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections.” Merriam-Webster also claims that the first use of wiki is in 1995 (Wikipedia itself,
November 3, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
The October Quarterly Discussion merged two chapters from The Prince by Machiavelli with a chapter from Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Of prime interest was the focus on the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. Machiavelli presents him as a champion of the princely cause since he successfully tricked and killed his opponents,
October 20, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
George Bull translated the Penguin Classics version of Machiavelli’s The Prince (1999). In the introductory materials, Bull notes some of the difficulties of translating Machiavelli’s language. I find his comments particularly enlightening since they also address the problematic nature of virtue. Machiavelli clearly witnessed unsettling atrocities in his time. Rather than condemning the injustices, he merely noted that injustice exists and suggested that it might be a necessary evil on the ruler’s behalf.
November 11, 2022
Thanks to 2022 HMU Fellow in Ideas David Kirichenko for today’s review.
The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene
There are defined patterns to how humans behave. Being social creatures, it is important to understand our own behaviors and motivations to grasp the reality of the world around us. In his book The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene attempts to weave together an appreciation of how humans operate through the lenses of history,
November 4, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
For the October Quarterly Discussion, we read Plutarch’s “Coriolanus” and a speech by David McCullough titled “Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are.” I was not really sure if this combination would work because of the great differences between the two pieces. Plutarch’s biography portends to be history, but is simultaneously a commentary on culture,
September 23, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
As recently discussed on this blog, I have begun a journey through the great idea of Knowledge. I want to better understand our sources of knowledge, how we think we know what we think we know. Really, I am trying to assess at what point a thought, idea or belief becomes something akin to knowledge. So much of my studies stem from what we now term the “Western world.” In How the World Thinks,