Philosophy
May 18, 2011
Youth Was Not Silent
Much can be gleaned about Walter Benjamin’s Jewishness, and that of his whole class, from this short diary. He is evidently completely unobservant—mor
January 12, 2011
The Medium Is McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan was a scholar of literature, with a doctorate from Cambridge, and his interpretation of the intellectual and social effects of media
January 11, 2011
Up from Zero Hour
Jürgen Habermas ranks today as the single most important public intellectual in all of Continental Europe. But he is also a formidable philosopher who
October 19, 2010
Drugs and Money
As any faithful reader of the New York Times knows, the medical profession has suffered some serious self-inflicted wounds: high-profile physicians po
September 09, 2010
Remembering Alienation
As hard as it might be to imagine in our wildly polarizing times, thinkers from both the right and the left once found themselves intellectually linke
July 12, 2010
Whatever You Say
The question that John Searle asks himself is a familiar one: how does the natural world of mindless, meaningless physical particles give rise to mind
July 05, 2010
Everywhere and Nowhere
Terry Eagleton has written a book about evil in order to demonstrate that there is no such thing. Evil, he writes, is boring, supremely pointless, li
February 09, 2010
The Joyless Mind
Sowell takes no joy in anything he has to say: his tone is as dour and depressing as his conclusions. I understand that the man is a conservative, bu
