Much of the early modern project of mass Enlightenment was based on the dogmatic rejection of religious belief as the benighted detritus of pre-scientific consciousness. Similarly, even those who offered foundational critiques of Enlightenment principles during what Philipe Beneton and Chantal . . . . Continue Reading »
I had not expected to see the headline A Dionysian End to Summer in Inside Higher Ed , but we live in strange times: Smith College rings in the new academic year in a most revealing way. Still, administrators worry that its students may not be putting their best foot forward. As a result, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the Confabulum, Conor Friedersdorf reminds us to remind ourselves of how lucky we are. While I’m always up for some meta-gratitude, I was more immediately reminded of Daniel Larison’s brilliant post from a while back about theodicy and "the pornography of compassion": . . . . Continue Reading »
The man himself in New York magazine : NY: Do you have a theory about why the culture keeps getting coarser? WA: The country has, over the years, moved to the right. And it’s possible that accompanying that move to the right, you also get a lessening of taste. But I don’t know if what . . . . Continue Reading »
I’ve already promoted Dan Mahoney’s excellent analysis of the socio-political import of 1968, especially from the perspective of France. Our own Peter Lawler provides his original critical commentary here cautioning us that as seminal as ‘68 was, a fuller picture of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Commenter Paulie wants to know. Well, there’s no denying that postmodern theory is intimately intertangled with the "hermeneutic of suspicion." Ricoeur helped us level against Habermasian liberal thinkers the complaint that ideologies could become so clever that what appeared to be . . . . Continue Reading »
Alan Jacobs over at the American Scene has asked whether it’s really true that all libertarians believe human nature is fundamentally good. He seems to think one can pull off being a libertarian who believes in original sin—"you just have to believe that our inevitable corruption . . . . Continue Reading »
Given what she just wrote , I’m hoping Helen can hit this one out of the park. Over at LadyBlog, Bonnie Lindblom quotes a professor at Northwestern University saying the following: "Conservatives worry about societal collapse, liberals worry about a world without deep feelings and . . . . Continue Reading »
The ever-prolific Dan Mahoney revisits the revolutionary upheavals of 1968 , particularly as they manifested themselves in France, and masterfully explores their underlying philosophical significance and continuing social and political ramifications today. The commemorations of these . . . . Continue Reading »
Matt Crawford ably explains how college campuses have become incubators of schoolmarmish therapeutic supervision. No longer confident in the mission of higher education and therefore too hobbled to resist becoming an adjunct of popular society versus an engine of . . . . Continue Reading »
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