The Ethics of George W. Bush The Ethics of George W. Bush
In his second inaugural address as Governor of Texas, George W. Bush declared, "Some people think it's inappropriate to make moral judgments anymore.
Sep 28, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Katherine C. Reilly
Philosophical Convictions Philosophical Convictions
Philosophers get attention only when they appear to be doing something sinister--corrupting the youth, undermining the foundations of civilization, sneering at all we hold dear.
May 27, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Richard Rorty
The Moral Case Against the Iraq War The Moral Case Against the Iraq War
The crimes at Abu Ghraib are a direct expression of the kind of war we are waging in Iraq.
May 13, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Paul Savoy
Gray’s Anatomy Gray’s Anatomy
We live, it has been said, in a postideological age. Ideologically confused might be more like it.
Dec 4, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Danny Postel
Rawls and Us Rawls and Us
The late John Rawls was, by all accounts, a remarkably modest and generous person, much beloved by his friends and students, and profoundly uninterested in the kinds of fame an...
Dec 5, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman
What Are They Reading? What Are They Reading?
“It’s hard to imagine a more boring book” than Robinson Crusoe, declares Gilles Deleuze, “it’s sad to see children still reading it.
Oct 18, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Sandy McCroskey
Letter to America Letter to America
My hope: empathy, compassion, the capacity to imagine that you are not unique
Sep 12, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Ariel Dorfman
Pierre Bourdieu, 1930-2002 Pierre Bourdieu, 1930-2002
The death on January 23 of the French philosopher and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu came as the American chattering classes were busy checking the math in Richard Posner's Public I...
Jan 31, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Katha Pollitt
The Uncertainty Principals The Uncertainty Principals
American intellectuals love the higher gossip because it gives intellectual life here--ignored or sneered at by the public--a good name. Sensational anecdotes (Harvard's Louis Aga...
May 25, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Carlin Romano
Deconstructing the Election Deconstructing the Election
The history which bears and determines us has the form of a war rather than that of a language: relations of power, not relations of meaning. ...
Mar 8, 2001 / Books & the Arts / Win McCormack