Cure-alls and Remedies
To some conservatives , the fact that both Clinton and Obama have connections to Saul Alinsky (of Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals fame) is the dirty Communist Party affiliation of this election . In truth, Clinton’s thesis (pdf) on Alinsky provoked more comment as a secret than it has as a public document…
Looking for Heidegger’s ” Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics “? Maybe the library is across campus and you’re feeling lazy? Look for it on this forum, which includes most of the trendy continental texts you could want: Agamben , Bataille , Deleuze , Derrida . Thanks to Farhang for the link.
Discussions of inequality usually focus on charity: what can we give or do for those in need? However, as the breakdown of last year’s WTO discussions demonstrates , most poor countries would much prefer fair dealing and equal opportunities to trade rather than handouts, especially when those handouts come in the form of ‘dumped’ surpluses…
Two recent articles, one by Thomas Pogge , the other by David Held , highlight the distinction between globalization theorists who have principled repugnance for the structure of international markets, and those who see globalization as a challenge to statist theories of regimes. It’s no surprise, then, that Pogge proceeds as Rawlsian concerned primarily with…
The other night I was discussing Lacan with a friend who practices psychotherapy, and he suggested that Lacan’s work ‘only makes sense in the clinic.’ We agreed that when philosophers and critical theorists try to invoke Lacan, they inevitably bungle the job. Today, I discovered Andrew Robinson’s nice little takedown of Zizek, Laclau, and Mouffe’s…
Kwame Anthony Appiah has an article in the New York Times Magazine on experimental philosophy. All great philosophical movements need an anthem: Or buy the t-shirt:
There’s a nice little article in the Washington Post about who counts as rich, which is an important question given the tax priorities that the Bush administration set with regard to the inheritance tax and other tax cuts for Americans. A couple of salary figures are sticking points: $97,500 is the cut-off for the payroll…
A tale of revenge within the Shiite community in Iraq, from Jon Lee Anderson’s ” Inside the Surge “: Amar was a lifelong friend of Karim’s. Three months earlier, Amar and his older brother, Jafaar, had been riding in the van of a friend, Sayeed, when a group of gunmen hailed them. Amar recognized them…
In the worst hour of the worst season of the worst year of a whole people a man set out from the workhouse with his wife. He was walking-they were both walking-north. She was sick with famine fever and could not keep up. He lifted her and put her on his back. He walked like…
Perhaps you remember Abdallah Higazy? He was detained as a material witness to the World Trade Center attacks when FBI agents found a transceiver in his hotel room. It later turned out that the transceiver belonged to a pilot who was staying on another floor, and he was released. However, between his detention and his…