Samuel Goldman

As some of our readers have noticed, Locke is a big subject around here. We don’t share a single interpretation of his philosophy (you should listen to Ivan), or of his influence on the American regime. But we agree that the positions expressed above all in the 2nd Treatise of Government . . . . Continue Reading »

Okay, so there’s blood on the floor. The bottles have been smashed, the tables flipped over. But now perhaps we should heed Professor Wilson’s suggestion and bring some order to this brawl. Not Marquess of Queensberry rules: we’ll keep it bare-knuckle. Yet it might worth selecting . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at New Majority, David Frum complains : “What Obama did not do: pick the most learned or intelligent or wisest lawyer available to him. >What he did do: pick the justice he deemed most likely to secure him a demographic constituency in 2008.” I’ll reserve judgement on . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m spending the morning  (and now part of the afternoon) on one of those fancy buses that has an internet connection. Since I didn’t have the foresight to download an episode of Battlestar Galactica, I’ve got nothing better to do than read tomorrow’s New York Times, and to . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at the American Spectator, Cato’s Doug Bandow considers the implications of Senator Specter’s decision to become a Democrat. Without exactly welcoming the switch, he suggests that Specter’s departure  offers an opportunity to get back to principle: “Absolute purity . . . . Continue Reading »

A nice thing about spending several days away from computers is relief from chronic headaches (I knew they couldn’t all be hangovers). Another is that one returns to find plenty of content worth reading—which cannot, contrary to present fashion, be whipped up in thirty seconds and posted . . . . Continue Reading »

As James observes, it’s good to be back in business. And while he appropriately thanks Jody and Joe for bringing us aboard the First Things mothership, I want to thank him for doing what I am far to lazy to do: set up and maintain a blog. It was a pleasure to contribute to PoMoCo at . . . . Continue Reading »

There’s a close connection between political and aesthetic inclinations. In practice, the development of a political identity is only partly conditioned by views on specific issues: it’s also an expression of what sort of person one wants to be. So it’s not surprising that younger . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the basic distinctions in contemporary thought about thinking is between brain and mind. “Brain” means the organic machine inside our skulls. “Mind” is more elusive: it can refer to anything from the generic subject of any possible judgement to the syndrome of affinities, . . . . Continue Reading »