Philosopher Michel Eyquem de Montaigne was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. Montaigne is famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography—his massive volume Essais (translated literally as “Attempts”) contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written.
I am a lucky person. For some reason I always manage to end up in the most interesting situations. As was the case last Saturday. For the Turkish community their month of fasting came to an end and to celebrate the fast breaking (or iftar) for the last time this year, a dinner was organized [...]
Today in 1937 the wonderful The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was published in London. The author had intended the book for his children, but after a friend read it, she recommended it to the publisher.
It was so successful, that it was sold out in three months. Because of paper sanctioning during wartime, the book was [...]
During the next days we’ll be doing some maintenance and testing on gibburt.com. Availability of the site might be limited and the layout can be a bit crappy.
In June this year Adnan Hajizada, a video blogger from Azerbaijan, placed a video on YouTube. Dressed up as “Esel Heinz”, a German immigrant donkey, he explained the gathered press why he was so happy to migrate to Azerbaijan.
The mildly satirical movie was a reaction to a story in Azerbaijani media that the government payed [...]
A little while ago, I was asked to write a one-page opinion piece for a publication of the research institute I work for, since this is their fifteenth year in existence. In the broadest sense, I was asked to give an opinion on where future information systems will or should be going. Below you will [...]
Education, from primary up to post-university, is an often discussed topic among the contributors to this blog. Unfortunately so far none of us felt sufficiently informed about it to offer a written contribution on this website. So I am very proud to be able to present a guest article from professional educator Steve Price. Steve [...]
Emma Goldman, a political activist who played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century, was born 140 years ago in Kovno (now Kaunas). An outspoken writer and lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women’s rights, and social issues, Goldman was imprisoned several times after emigrating to the [...]
With the increasing number of blogs, forums and other means of throwing opinions into the public space, the need for tools to sift the wheat from the chaff also increases. This can be done by looking at the arguments that are being used, and check what rhetorical tricks, also known as logical fallacies, are being [...]
It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce a new member of the Gibburt family: Cédric. Being a philosopher both by training and by heart Cédric knows like no one else that no line of reasoning should be exempt from careful examination and no argument is beyond debate. As such I am [...]
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