Why the firm? Ronald Coase, a Nobel economist who died last week at the age of 102, was among the first to ask the question, in a 1937 article on the nature of the firm . His starting point was to notice the discrepancy between the way economic systems were described in theory and the reality of . . . . Continue Reading »
Wittgenstein said ( Philosophical Investigations (3rd Edition) , 363), “We are so much accustomed to communication through speaking, in conversation, that it looks to us as if the whole point of communication lay in this: someone else grasps the sense of my words—which is something . . . . Continue Reading »
Fearing Israel, the Gibeonites put on disguises, pretend to be strangers from a distant land, and deceive Joshua into making a covenant with them (Joshua 9). Old wineskins and dry bread prove they came from a far country. Without consulting Yahweh, Joshua swears to protect them and they become . . . . Continue Reading »
When David returns to his Philistine outpost in Ziklag, he finds it demolished and empty (1 Samuel 30). Amalekites have attacked and taken all the women and children captive. While in pursuit, David’s men come across an Egyptian in the field. Like the hosts in the Odyssey , David feeds first . . . . Continue Reading »
In his Problems in General Linguistics , Emile Benveniste criticizes Saussure’s claim that the relation between the signifier (the sound sequence) and the signified (the concept) is arbitrary, often using Saussure’s own work to advance the critique. Benvenist argues that, Saussure to . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 1907 treatise on Islam , the Reformed theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper denied that Islam’s power could be attributed to sheer deception or manipulation. He found a spiritual power in Islam’s relentless monotheism, and suggested that Islam’s conquest of previously . . . . Continue Reading »
A couple of days ago, Rusty Reno offered one of the most astute analyses of the Pope’s recent comments on gay marriage, abortion, and contraception. Reno said that the comments were in themselves innocuous, but the fact that Francis expresses himself in the rhetoric of progressivism creates . . . . Continue Reading »
Following up Agamben’s discussion: Robert Durling and Ronald Martinez ( Time and the Crystal: Studies in Dante’s Rime petrose , 269-70) explain the hexameral structure of the sestina by reference to both philosophical and biblical sources: “In both form and content, Dante’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Andrew Delbanco writes of the “two faces of American education” at NYRB this week. Two? I thought. Only two? Turns out, Delbanco’s essay is a review of Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools and . . . . Continue Reading »
Whatever happened to poetry? many wonder. Those who wonder probably don’t realize that a lot of poetry continues to be written. On the other hand, they may be perfectly aware that a lot of what’s written passes itself off as poetry, but they deny that it qualifies. And they have a . . . . Continue Reading »
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