Freddie has written a post that forces me into the odd position of defending Sam Harris; the crux of which is the claim that once we accept the human mind as being a contingent accident of evolution, we necessarily must abandon any faith in the intellectual edifices constructed by such minds: For . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at Cato, Julian Sanchez has written a post about how the aftermath of healthcare reform could reveal faultlines in existing political coalitions and trigger realignment: There’s no intrinsic commonality between, say, “left” positions on taxation, foreign policy, and reproductive . . . . Continue Reading »
1. The thought Locke=Nature and Darwin=History described above is almost completely backwards. Locke=Freedom From Nature (and implicitly history) and Darwin=Nature is much closer to the truth. That’s why Darwinian Larry can use Darwin, with some initial plausibility, to oppose History (by . . . . Continue Reading »
That was a dumb title of an article I wrote several years ago talking up the manly authors Mansfield and Tom Wolfe. My BUILDING BETTER THAN THEY KNEW TOUR continues next Thursday at the Rochester Institute of Technology . There Darwinian Larry Arnhart and I will speak on Darwin and the . . . . Continue Reading »
Since I work at a technical institute I will tread carefully in my criticisms of the problem an obsession with technology poses to the university . James has already announced this excellent symposium in The New Atlantis but it’s now available in its entirety online. Our own Peter Lawler . . . . Continue Reading »
I will be tomorrow (Thursday) at Notre Dame. The time is 7:30 p.m. and the place is Debartolo 129. And I’ll be speaking in Dallas at the Adolphus Hotel on Saturday afternoon. (For more details, go to the ISI website). YOU are invited to both events free of charge. The topic in both cases will . . . . Continue Reading »
The Awl points out this interview with Tina Brown . At about 19:40, Brown asks: “Are we building this new sort of subculture frankly of impoverished, living in garret writers? Because the fact is writers can hardly make a living right now because they don’t get paid.” Leon . . . . Continue Reading »
As we continue our discussion of popular music and its discontents , I opened up the paper this morning to find a charming tribute to the place and milieu in which I grew up: the New Jersey hardcore scene. Although it’s partly a record review, the piece does a good job capturing the local . . . . Continue Reading »
So I keep reading that America is exceptional. That’s not surprising. And that unexceptional fact is both good and bad. 1. Tocqueville finds both religious madness and an insane materialistic restlessness in America. The French have pretty much stayed with that criticism, still viewing us as . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
