It’s week three of module 4 and I’ve made fast progress in consuming content! Last week I reviewed and learned about the different types of philosophical fallacies and this week I’ll focus on history and culture.
Here are my notes from today’s lectures.
Ways of seeing the past
- History is remembered by measures of power
- Wars, elections, conquest, mass casualties
- Dates of important inventions are rarely taught or remembered
- There are more books written about historical mass murderers and wars than entrepreneurs
- New technology, inventions, and trade made a greater impact on history and improved more lives than politicians can ever dream of achieving
- Entrepreneurs made life better
Commerce and Culture podcast. The Economic Basis of Culture
- Culture is the last battleground between Marxists and free markets
- There would be no culture without the division of labor
- Cities made it possible to cultivate nonnecessities
- Art is an exchange
- Patronage – a common form of exchange before art became commercialized
-Clash between artist and what the patron wanted
-Not the ideal form of exchange - The free market liberated artists because they didn’t have to rely on patrons for work
- Art became widely available after it became commercialized, meaning the middle and poor classes were able to pay for it