Before I depart this world, I would like to visit St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, and see the Jenny Geddes memorial.
I’m told it’s open to the public.
Why? What’s interesting about a stool?
Well, it’s probably impossible to point to a single moment, or a single object, and say “The Enlightenment began here.”. But if you were absolutely forced to choose one moment and one object? One pebble that started the avalanche?
Then Jenny Geddes’ legendary stool, flying through the air on a hot summer Sunday in 1637, wouldn’t be a bad choice.
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Among other things, the unlamented former autocrat Viktor Orban was one of the leading proponents of pro-natalist policies, and more open than most about the racist underpinnings of his view. However, like others who have tried to raise birth rates, he wasn’t particularly successful. To understand why not, it’s useful to consider the question: how many babies do we want. In particular, since their choices are the relevant ones, how many babies do young women want?
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