From Cardozo Law Review, Robert Justin Lipkin (Widener): Which Constitution? Who Decides? The Problem of Judicial Supremacy and the Interbranch Solution; Nancy Levit (Missouri): Confronting Conventional Thinking: The Heuristics Problem in Feminist Legal Theory; and Christopher M. Fairman (Ohio State): Fuck: "In this Article, I explore the intersection of the word fuck, taboo, and the law".
From Eurozine, citizenship as a learning process: In the dominant liberal discourse on citizenship, learning processes have tended to be reduced to citizenship classes. Gerard Delanty outlines a concept of citizenship that, rather than merely demanding cognitive competence, has a developmental and transformative impact on the subject.
From Philosophy Bites, an interview with Anne Phillips, author of Multiculturalism Without Culture (and the first chapter); an interview with Miranda Fricker, author of Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing; an interview with John Cottingham, author of On The Meaning of Life; and an interview with Alain de Botton, author of The Architecture of Happiness. An excerpt from Remastering Morals with Aristotle and Confucius by May Sim. Wonder what Aristotle would make of Facebook? The great thinker had a lot to say about friendship that is newly relevant with the rise of such network sites.
From The New Humanist, Danny Postel remembers the daring philosophy of Richard Rorty; atheism a la mode: A panel of humanist thinkers consider the work French philosopher Michel Onfray; and through the looking glass: AC Grayling finds that in the work of leading philosopher John Gray, everything is the wrong way round and upside down; and an article on Jean Meslier, a priest who left a deathbed bombshell. You Ask, Dershowitz Answers: Alan Dershowitz will be offering his counsel to Forward readers as guest advice columnist.
From Inside Higher Ed, an Anti-Progressive Syllabus: In the era of anthologies of criticism, Mark Bauerlein has some ideas of works to add. Tenure Shrugged: A scholar's affinity for the philosophy of Ayn Rand cost him his job. A review of Does God Belong in Public Schools? by Kent Greenawalt. Money for Nothing: Paying students for studying doesn’t help them learn. Four Score and Seven Manatees Ago: Why have we stopped naming schools after great public figures? Teaching American history: How do we ask our children to fight, and perhaps die, for a country they do not know? William J. Bennett wants to know.
From Discover, Your Body is a Planet: 90% of the cells within us are not ours but microbes'; and Aliens Among Us: Do we share Earth with alternative life forms? Synthetic life could be just around the corner - - depending on what you mean by "synthetic". A review of Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics by Gino Segre.
From Fast Company, Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover: Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes—lockbox, earth tones, a postelection beard. Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet into the private sector. Al Gore on moving beyond Kyoto: America should join an international treaty that cuts global warming pollution by 90 percent in developed countries and by more than half worldwide. The untold story of how an epic loser engineered what may be the greatest brand makeover of our time. If attacking Al Gore was a movie, it would be Say Anything.
Almost a quarter of nature’s resources are now being gobbled up by a single species – humans, and more on charting greed for all things green. A review of Biodiversity and Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction by Sahotra Sarkar. Michael Oppenheimer discusses his book Confronting Climate Change. Global warming in an Age of Energy Anxiety: Why progressives should shift the emphasis from regulation to investment in their political and policy approach. Buying into the Green Movement: Eco-friendly shopping may be fashionable, but critics argue it won’t reduce global warming. Much of America is suffering under dry conditions, but it is California, Nevada and Arizona that are facing "the perfect drought", Dan Glaister reports. There is, however, an upside to the dry, hot weather: good, cheap wine.
He Thinks, She Thinks: It’s not what you expect: Women are more resilient, men more focused. She navigates by landmarks, he by internal compass. Our differences are surprising—and profound. A review of On Law and Chastity by Robert E. Rodes, Jr. Fear not! The latest clutch of sex guides are full of advice for people with no time to Do It. But who has the time to even read about sex these days? To save you the trouble, Lucy Mangan sifts through Mating in Captivity et al for some top tips. Do we all have "feminised" bodies now? An excerpt from Property in the Body by Donna Dickenson. The Obstetric-Industrial Complex: A review of Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block. The article "The Baby-Name Business" provides the latest evidence that Americans are slowly going mad.
Marriage, Trademarked: How to understand—and answer—the claim that same-sex marriage demeans the institution. Walking the English Streets: An article on the rich, complex, and contested history of "the oldest profession". Giddyup With Pony Play Fetishists: It's a boundary-stretching variation on conventional sexual fetishes, with its own bizarre paraphernalia and terminology, substituting bridles and riding crops for the usual manacles and whips — and it just might be going on in a hotel conference room or backyard near you. Soft porn, sluttish brides and honour killings: Another routine week for feminist journalist Natalie Haynes.
From Stanford Law Review, a symposium on Global Constitutionalism, including John O. McGinnis (Northwestern) and Ilya Somin (George Mason): Should International Law Be Part of Our Law? Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz (Georgetown): Condorcet and the Constitution: A Response to The Law of Other States (and a response by Eric A. Posner and Cass R. Sunstein). An excerpt from State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace by Christian Davenport. From Monthly Review, Noam Chomsky on Imminent Crises: Threats and Opportunities.
From The Chronicle, an APSA forum on The Future of the Jihadi Movement: a 5-Year Forecast. Princeton economist Alan Krueger says lack of civil liberties, not poverty, breeds terrorism. From CJR, a cover story on Prisoner 345: What happened to Al Jazeera’s Sami al-Haj.
From Jewcy, a series of articles on the first genocide of the 21st century. An excerpt from Darfur's Sorrow: A History of Destruction and Genocide by M. W. Daly. An excerpt from The African Human Rights System, Activist Forces and International Institutions by Obiora Chinedu Okafor.
A decade ago, geologists found signs that one of the least-known countries in Africa, the tiny island nation of Sao Tome and Principe, might hold a king's ransom in oil. The first drop of oil has yet to be produced. But these days, little Sao Tome may have attracted ample supplies of something else, U.S. government investigations suggest: oil-related corruption. An article on Guinea Bissau, the world's newest narco state. In Mauritania, seeking to end an overfed ideal: To Mauritania’s men, fat is sexy, so women resort to force-feeding and steroid use in pursuit of obesity.
From Cafe Babel, who's afraid of multiculturalism? Living together peacefully - long a European ideal. Positive discrimination and the question of national identity menace the multi-culti ideal, be it in the UK or France. Could ethnic quotas be the miracle remedy? Timothy Garton Ash on weaving a new identity: At 50, Europe is not one story, but many; and a cause to celebrate: European malaise? Where? Just say no to referendums: Despite appearances, referendums are not democratic. All they do is hand power and influence to malign media oligarchs.
How Europe is drowning in wine: EU subsidies have spurred big surpluses and made the continent uncompetitive with "New World" wines. Now reform is afoot. Each year, the EU spends hundreds of millions of euros transforming unsold wine into cleaning products and ethanol. But a proposal to reform the way Europe does wine has not been well received by vintners. Sex Video Clouds Europe's YouTube Launch: The EU has long had a public relations problem. To help improve its image, the bloc launched its very own YouTube platform in late June — complete with some of European film's best sex scenes.
From CJR, Bending to Power: How Rupert Murdoch built his empire, and how he uses it. A noble trade: Press photographers are often wrongly cast as cynics or manipulators. In fact, they are romantic figures, driven by a desire to tell the truth. But hey, it's what the readers want: The "most read" lists on news websites seem to tell us some bracing things about what really interests people. Could this become a substitute for the editor's judgment?
From The New York Review of Magazines, A Cover Story: How Annie Leibovitz deposed the Taliban, and other global crises; Miles Above: Why Air Canada's enRoute is an in-flight magazine good enough to buy; The Minions Wear H&M: The life of a fashion mag assistant isn't all Prada; Death Has a Blog: The Grim Reaper asks which magazine will be next; and Good's Intentions: Can the heir to the Inc. fortune make money by giving it away?
From New Statesman, a review of Off the Road: Twenty Years with Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg by Carolyn Cassady. The Great American Novel was written by: (a) Steinbeck (b) Cather (c) none of the above. Has the novel been murdered by the mob? Brilliant though it was, The Sopranos moved in to a place in US culture that used to belong to prose fiction. John Freeman wonders whether they have killed it off forever.
Form TNR, Jed Perl on why ancient art still has a claim on our attention. Sex, jugs, pots and bowls: A hugely prolific painter, draughtsman, sculptor and ceramicist, Pablo Picasso is regarded as the supreme artist of the 20th century, and his private life continues to fascinate. But exactly why is he so widely accepted as a genius? Springtime for Hitler: The hidden art of the Third Reich, argues Roger Griffin, betrays uncomfortable links with more radical modernism. Bleak Mythology: From eugenics to unicorns, one museum's history. Art makes a scene on Second Life: The online virtual world is becoming one of the best places for artists, curators and dealers to meet.
A review of Not Remotely Controlled: Notes on Television by Lee Siegel. Whose side is Bart Simpson on? It's surprisingly hard to pin down the politics of America's favourite family. The young ones: As would-be child actors queue up for a part in the next Harry Potter movie, Barry Didcock investigates the thorny business of employing minors in a grown-up film industry. From Blackadder to Four Weddings and a Funeral Richard Curtis has made millions out of making us laugh. He tells Laurie Taylor why comedy has a duty to bring relief.
From Eat the State!, a look at why Hipsterism is an oil-age artifact. Homey Don't Play That: Here are 50 things you should never say: "#6 So I was reading The Fountainhead..." Does self-help breed helplessness? An interview with Jennifer Niesslein, author of Practically Perfect in Every Way: My Adventures through the World of Self-Help—and Back.