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What Sex Really Is

From the June/July 2022 Print Edition

In her delightful essay “Harry Potter and the Reverse Voltaire,” the philosopher Mary Leng tries to understand why a colleague of hers has denounced J. K. Rowling. Although the colleague believes that “there are contexts in which [biological] sex matters politically,” she has condemned . . . . Continue Reading »

Inherited Merit

From the February 2020 Print Edition

The system hasn’t failed; it has succeeded too well. Patrick Deneen said this about liberalism. Now Daniel Markovits is saying it about meritocracy. Markovits, a professor of law at Yale, argues that a system that once promoted social mobility has created a self-perpetuating class of elites. His . . . . Continue Reading »

Aristotle on the Spectrum

From the March 2017 Print Edition

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversityby steve silbermanavery, 560 pages, $19The alleged link between vaccination and autism has been thoroughly studied and debunked, but its appeal is understandable. The symptoms of autism typically begin to appear around the same age . . . . Continue Reading »