The Weimar Republic and Hyperinflation

The Weimar Republic and Hyperinflation

Il Ponte Magazine

Max Weber and Viktoria Križanová

It is not uncommon for images of ruin and destitution to show up when discussing the Weimar Republic, especially in regards to the state’s economic woes in its very infancy. Troubled by political instability, an angry public, angrier neighbours and a flawed if not disastrous paradigm of economic examination, the inflation of the mark during the early days of interwar Germany stamped out the legitimacy of the quantitative theory of money and highlighted how expected inflation can severely impact an economy’s price levels and money velocity. The resulting lesson learned (especially for Weimar economists) was that printing money ad infinitum is not possible and that it is preferable to take a stance compliant to paying back debts rather than to be a combative debtor at the cost of your own economy.

On the Laffer Curve

On the Laffer Curve

Il Ponte Magazine

Max Weber

It is perhaps undeniable that the place in the sun that the United States of America enjoy today, as the beneficiaries of a successful economic system that won the Cold War can, at least in part, be owed to the success of the Reagan administration - a regime that placed a strong emphasis on economic deregulation and free markets. One calculation that informed the policy of tax cuts that defined the Republican Party ever since Reagan took office was that of the Laffer Curve, which stipulates that progressive taxation ad infinitum is a bad policy as once taxation exceeds an optimal rate, increasing rates of taxation decreases government revenue and ergo creates a loose-loose policy for both businessmen and the government.

Immanuel Kant and the ‘Hammer of Reason’

Immanuel Kant and the ‘Hammer of Reason’

Il Ponte Magazine

Alex Nemec

What is justice? What is goodness? What is morality? These may sound like fairly easy and straightforward questions; ones that if you were to ask any stranger on a street, they would most likely happily give you their account of any of these concepts, calmly claiming they got it all figured out. However, come with these questions to any ‘subject of the goddess Philosophy’ and you are likely to see them either refuse to talk to you or run away screaming (Try it, it is a fun activity for boring weekends!). The reason for this is simple: each of these questions forces hours-long discussions forces you down the same road as thousands before you walked only to lead you to a place called “I only know that I know nothing”. Consequently, philosophers started to lose hope in finding any particular answer to these age-old questions, and began to claim that there is no ‘goodness as such, justice as such, or morality as such’. It all depends on circumstances; depends on the effect of an action, and every time one tries to force these concepts out of the hands of God and keep them among human beings - tied to a fence as one would keep a horse for it to not run away - they slip away, like an eel out of the hands of a fisherman, and race back to their place outside of our reality; leaving behind a void in its place and clueless people of the earth with their shallow understanding of reality.

Conformity to survive

Conformity to survive

Il Ponte Magazine

Anna Vasilenka

People are wired for empathy and collaboration, but not for long under pressure. Personal socialization and special circumstances may turn a well-behaved person respecting human lives into a wild tyrant. I want to understand the brutal violence of riot police during the first days of protests. The easy answer to brutality can be “it is just an authoritarian regime”, but what stands behind people’s actions? Why did riot police torture and dehumanize civilians without being ordered to do so? Why did judges sentence people for years for no reason?

The problem of Free Will in Machiavelli’s The Prince

The problem of Free Will in Machiavelli’s The Prince

Il Ponte Magazine

Alex Nemec

Free will, as a concept, haunts philosophers, and surely some other people who actually care about these kinds of things for a good amount of time now (let’s say ever since we became conscious of our own existence?). Niccolo Machiavelli, sixteenth-century political scientist and to some extent a Philosopher, in his most famous piece of writing, The Prince, which can be summarized as a practical guide for at the time current and future rulers (possibly even for ours) based on Machiavelli’s empirical observations of his time in Italy, and his extensive studies of history. In this highly practical book, Machiavelli, of course, attempts to present his understanding of a highly unpractical concept of free will and whether we, human beings, have it.

Slow Response, Major Consequences - An Academic Essay

Slow Response, Major Consequences - An Academic Essay

Il Ponte Magazine
politics, climate change

Anon

“Hubristic” has been an adjective used to describe humankind’s attempts to conquer nature. The mere notion was seen as an insult, something that would have tremendous repercussions in the future. In this day and age, Earth is faced with the looming prospect of climate change. It is precisely that idea of domination that has brought about this outcome. However, despite the evidence all pointing to this fact, the response has been quite slow. Sociologist C. Wright Mills’ theory of sociological imagination provides a framework through which to analyze the causes of the latent response to this pressing crisis. Defined by the author as “the awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society”, the theory tries to draw certain conclusions on a given issue through a deep analysis of the wider social context, the behaviour of the “actors” involved, their motives, and the social norms that helped it into existence. (Mills, 1959) Additionally, given its efforts to raise awareness about the issue, the documentary “Chasing Ice” will assist in contextualizing how the issue is perceived, as well as its effects.