Solving the Euro Crisis Solving the Euro Crisis
The bottom line on bailouts for Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland must be help, not punishment.
May 19, 2011 / Mark Weisbrot
On Food Stamps, Gingrich Hasn’t a Clue On Food Stamps, Gingrich Hasn’t a Clue
SNAP—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—is one of the strongest threads in our increasingly tattered safety net. But Gingrich started taking whacks at the pr...
May 19, 2011 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Letters Letters
Mud in Your Eye Hamtramck, Mich. In minor objection but with much appreciation for Elias Altman’s “Watered Whiskey” [May 2], it seems to me that this collection contains some of the strongest barrels of whiskey brewed by James Baldwin, and as one reads it, and feels the anger that emanates from this love-revering artist, one can understand why these writings, perhaps until now, remained uncollected; taken together, his truth is hard to swallow. Yes, he says, we have come so far, and no, he is not talking about race relations in society, and probably he is not talking about you or, for that matter, me. It burns our throat, and depending on where we came from, makes us feel dirty or makes us feel real. For those of us who are not made proud by his paintings of the great myth of America, but who sense that salvation will come not in loving the freedom but in freeing our love, I think we should ask ourselves: have we added water just to make it easier to go down? CAMERON KYLE-SIDELL Dreamt of in Your Philosophy Holden, Mass. Re Richard Wolin’s thoughtful review of James Miller’s Examined Lives [“Being in the World,” March 7/14]: I would like to see critics take seriously that Western philosophers do not represent all of philosophy. How rich are the traditions of Asia, which could have informed this book’s mode of inquiry. Soon the day will have passed when philosophers of Asia can be ignored without critical comment and when authors are not called out for this failure of global worldview. TODD LEWIS Shorewood, Wis. Richard Wolin properly gives a good part of his review to discussion of Socrates and Plato. Unfortunately, he describes Plato’s Forms as a concern of metaphysics but not of civic life. But Plato makes it clear that the Forms are about knowing what’s truly good, which is the key to any truly useful contribution to civic life. This is not a question that any responsible philosophy can ignore. It would have been helpful if Miller or Wolin had mentioned the valuable contributions to political thought of Locke, Hegel, Mill and Rawls, all of whom followed Plato’s lead in thinking that a clear picture of what’s good for humans is indispensable for thinking about civic life. Obviously philosophers aren’t politically or morally infallible, but they’ve done a good deal to clarify how we might best live together. ROBERT M. WALLACE Wolin Replies New York City In keeping with Todd Lewis’s suggestion, I am all in favor of histories of philosophy that are in tune with the contributions of Taoism, Confucianism and so forth. But I am not sure that such an approach would have worked well in the case of James Miller’s Examined Lives, which is focused on continuities and discontinuities within the post-Platonic philosophical tradition. I agree with Robert M. Wallace about the relationship between the Good, as philosophically defined, and human excellence. However, we disagree about the nature of Plato’s contribution to this discourse. In many ways, Plato’s distrust of the demos translated into a fear of politics and a mistrust of civic engagement. Hence, the draconian (and distasteful) nature of his political prescriptions: elite rule by Guardians and Philosopher Kings, the “myth of the metals” and the Noble Lie, which is designed to prevent hoi polloi, or unwashed masses, from trying to better themselves. Plato’s metaphysical starting point—the supersensible Forms—already displays a scorn for the phenomenal world, politics included. We would do better to take our bearings from Aristotle’s proto-democratic definition of politics as “ruling and being ruled in turn.” RICHARD WOLIN
May 18, 2011 / Our Readers
Strauss-Kahn Lightens Gingrich’s Baggage Strauss-Kahn Lightens Gingrich’s Baggage
Yes, Gingrich, our yard-sale Don Juan, Perked up at the news of Strauss-Kahn: Compared with a rape charge, some feel, Philandering’s not a big deal: Affairs, for which Newt has repented, Involved only those who’d consented. But still his campaign’s going south: His foot still gets stuck in his mouth.
May 18, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Calvin Trillin
The Intelligent Liberal’s Guide to Foolish Principles The Intelligent Liberal’s Guide to Foolish Principles
Ignoring the real world is one of the charms of punditry.
May 18, 2011 / Column / Eric Alterman
Obama and Black Americans: the Paradox of Hope Obama and Black Americans: the Paradox of Hope
Obama's inauguration broke racial barriers, but today most black Americans are worse off than before.
May 18, 2011 / Column / Gary Younge
An Imperfect Life: On George and W.B. Yeats An Imperfect Life: On George and W.B. Yeats
Perfection of the life or of the work? The correspondence between W.B. Yeats and his wife George shows the complexities of art and life entwined.
May 18, 2011 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach
Trials: On Janet Malcolm Trials: On Janet Malcolm
Janet Malcolm can be brutal in her judgments, but it is the casual brutality of keen observation.
May 18, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Miriam Markowitz
Swarf Swarf
If you have seen the fine metallic filings flying onto the fellow who crimps copper into flashing and fashions pivot hinges from brass, you have seen it. This is not the late Bronze Age. There are no palace economies, only the economy of one man milling metal to earn the flimsy dollars that keep him fed. When you knock on his door he quiets the grindstone raises his polycarbonate visor and greets you swathed in a swarm of gold— not war gold or altar gold but the metalsmith’s hard-won residue: swarf.
May 18, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Erica Funkhouser
Kerf Kerf
What disappears when an eight-foot plank is sawn in half, yielding two less-than-four-foot boards, a solid term for what’s lost to the teeth of separation. Neither sawdust nor error, nor the labor of gremlins waiting to wreak havoc on perfectly accurate measurements. Kerf—you will know it by its absence, like divided attention. Small consolation: each board as it’s halved releases both sides of a single scent, limewood for linden, pine for pine.
May 18, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Erica Funkhouser