What is the Enlightenment?

The following is an excerpt from my book Public Administration and Enlightenment Ethics  The Enlightenment was a philosophical revolution that grew out of Europe in the 16th century and spread to the Americas in the 17th and 18th century (Szalay, 2016). This movement, also referred to as the Age of Reason is often contrasted against...

Evaluators as Advocates

Evaluations, assessments, and audits in public administration provide a unique and heavily relied upon service to their clients - a facts-based report regarding the goals and objectives of the program, agency, or policy. Because these evaluators operate in the public sphere, they have an additional task of keeping the public interest in mind when carrying...

The Experience Machine

The thought experiment referred to as “the experience machine” was first put forth by Robert Nozick in his 1974 book Anarchy, State, and Utopia in an attempt to destroy the hedonistic and perhaps the utilitarian position that pleasure, happiness, and avoidance of bad is the only good. In this experiment, Nozick asks if given the...