Austin Stone

Adam Kirsch has an extraordinary takedown of Slavoj Zizek at The New Republic, and this is the first of a few things I’ll say about parts of it. So: the passage in Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle where Zizek discusses the ideological function of Nazi anti-Semitism: "one could say that even if . . . . Continue Reading »

Another log for the fire . The below is just food for thought, as well as further proof that Shakespeare still puts us all in very deep shade. Assume a virtue, if you have it not. That monster custom, who all sense doth eat, Of habits evil, is angel yet in this,— That to the use of actions . . . . Continue Reading »

Belief in God would change everything — Freddie In response to my due distance postscript, he writes: James is right, of course, that this doesn’t have to be a moment of despair, but merely a moment of opportunity. There are small graces in this kind of world, if we look for them. James . . . . Continue Reading »

Michael Weiss has a fine piece on David Foster Wallace at The Weekly Standard . The Wallace quote I am snipping here, which closes the piece, is nothing very new or groundbreaking (anymore? Rieff had him beat by at least a decade). But note the phrasing I’m putting in bold: The next real . . . . Continue Reading »

Freddie, that ubiquitous ombudsman, has taken me out for a ride for bashing Martin Buber. I get the feeling our disagreement isn’t about Buber anymore, so don’t feel any special pressure to catch up before proceeding. The basic disagreement between us is this: Should we try to love our . . . . Continue Reading »

1. Pinch hitting at Schwenkler’s, William R. Brafford solicits my comment on the friendly R.R. Reno’s latest: I hope it’s clear that I see the problem of stability and dynamism as one of balance, of figuring out where to set limits. And here Reno asserts that it is most important . . . . Continue Reading »

Can everyone please stop finding Martin Buber interesting? Benjamin Balint, this means you : . . . Chief among these [misconceptions about Buber] is the common misjudgment that what is original about I and Thou , Buber’s classic statement of a philosophy of dialogue, is its teaching about . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m quoting a fairly lengthy portion of our own Peter Lawler’s essay on technology because it does a tantalizing job of raising some fair but serious questions about the limits of Wendell Berry’s — or anyone else’s — dedication to nature as the site of whole . . . . Continue Reading »

Our own Peter Lawler gives an account of human nature and our peculiar capacity for technologically transforming it. Considering the views of Heidegger, Wendell Berry, and Pascal he argues that while our attraction to the rational manipulation of nature is a defining hallmark of our being, the new . . . . Continue Reading »

It has been telling that Obama has recruited to his ranks a slew of veteran Clinton appointees of yesteryear. Much has been made of the manner in which this strategy seems to undercut not only his criticisms of Clinton style politics but also his promise of seismic change—he has surrounded . . . . Continue Reading »