Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Dublin’s Dilemma

As a result of Catholicism's demise, are the Irish no longer governed by a firm, inherited sense of right and wrong? If the answer is “yes,” then Ireland cannot claim that it wasn’t warned. Continue Reading »

Our Divided House

Speaking to a Baltimore audience in 1864, Abraham Lincoln made an observation that remains ­uncomfortably true today. “The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty,” he said, “and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using . . . . Continue Reading »

The (Very) Last Word

The Last Word.By Thomas Nagel.Oxford University Press.  147 pp. $19.95. How refreshing and intellectually stimulating it is to read a philosopher––and one as smart as Thomas Nagel––say a favorable word on behalf of Descartes. In a time when “Cartesian” has almost become a pejorative . . . . Continue Reading »

Filter Tag Articles