Kwame Anthony Appiah has an article in the New York Times Magazine on experimental philosophy.
I just came across this early Joseph Heath/Andrew Potter article based on their excellent book Nation of Rebels. It’s called The Rebel Sell. They argue that consumerism, more than capitalism, is the reigning political-economy of our times, and that we are being sold our insurrections:
Take, for example, Volkswagen and Volvo advertising from the early 1960s. [...]
Peter Levine’s blog has been more-than-usually insightful over the last month or so. He has pieces on Charter Schools, agency collaboration with citizens’ groups, The Tempest, Massachusetts v. EPA, and a wonderful declaration of principles almost identical to those I’ve espoused in this blog and my actual scholarship.
Despite all the links, I couldn’t help but [...]
A month without internet? He writes like it’s an addiction, and it probably is: constant stimulation, freedom from reflection, instantaneous access to the opinions of others. Why think yourself? Why bother to formulate a position that’s anything other than a reaction to the latest rant?
During weeks two and three, I watched the first three seasons [...]
Putnam likes to imagine that there is a triangle, its points comprising where you sleep, where you work, and where you shop. In a canonical English village, or in a university town, the sides of that triangle are very short: a five-minute walk from one point to the next. In many American cities, you can [...]
I’ve been distracted by travel… first I went to the Arendt Circle in Louisvlle, Kentucky, then to Pennsylvania where I selected a site for my wedding! I volunteered to become the Arendt Circle’s webmaster, which means my online time will be further divided between setting up a website for them, my time on metafilter, and [...]
My family likes the business self-help section of the bookstore. When I was an an awkward adolescent, my father made me read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and How to Win Friends and Influence People. Seriously. I’m not a big fan of this kind of thing; I think it’s a bit of a [...]
The Boston Globe has a long story about the shift in marriage rates for educated women.
It looks like:
1. “The median age for a first marriage nationally is now 25.5 for women and 27 for men. It is even higher for those with graduate degrees. In Massachusetts, the median age at first marriage is 27.2 for [...]
Women’s petition against coffee from 1674:
Thus like Tennis Balls between two Rackets, the Fopps our Husbands are bandied to and fro all day between the Coffee-house and Tavern, whilst we poor Souls sit mopeing all alone till Twelve at night, and when at last they come to bed smoakt like a Westphalia Hogs-head we have [...]
Last night I saw Erin Mckeown at The Basement. It was my first taste of both, though they’re apparently both well-known and fantastically well-endowed with talent. Here’s a video of Mckeown on Conan O’Brien. Here’s a link to her newest album: Sing You Sinners, a reworking of lesser-known standards form the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. [...]
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