online archive
12:00PM
JUN 20 2007
Philosophy, human nature and science
From Ovi, there are two dangerous extremes in modern Western philosophy: that of mythos without logos leading to a false transcendence and ushering in the Nietzschean charismatic Man; and that of logos without mythos leading to pure rationalism and ushering in technocratic Man. In between those dangerous extremes there is Vico’s poetic philosophy, humanistic, holistic and able to harmonize the two extremes (and part 2). A review of Kant and the Historical Turn: Philosophy as Critical Interpretation by Karl Ameriks. A review of A Theory of Political Obligation: Membership, Commitment, and the Bonds of Society by Margaret Gilbert.
A review of Utopian Dreams: A Search for a Better Life by Tobias Jones. A review of The Meaning of Life by Terry Eagleton. An interview with Stephen Tonsor, author of Equality, Decadence, and Modernity and Tradition and Reform in Education. A review of A Young People's History of the United States, Volume One: Columbus to the Spanish-American War and Volume Two: Class Struggle to the War on Terror by Howard Zinn.
Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Alfred D. Chandler Jr., whom many credited with founding the discipline of business history, is dead. Here are reflections on Chandler's legacy and personal memories. From FT, John Kay on why Rorty's search for what works has lessons for business. Edward Rothstein on Richard Rorty and postmodern thoughts, illuminated by the practices of a premodern tribe. Todd Gitlin on patriot Richard Rorty, a philosopher who hated philosophy, and a lefty who loved his country. A review of Patriotism and Other Mistakes by George Kateb. The perks and pitfalls of pride: Research lends insight into nature and function of this complex emotion.
From The Situationist, an article on some of the directions and bending questions facing laugh researchers. This is your brain on Ecstasy: MDMA really is like love in a pill. The secret ingredient behind doting dads: A natural shot of female estrogen appears to jump-start nurturing spirits in new fathers (a series of articles). A study has confirmed what parents have long suspected: dating, sexual activity and substance use seem to make teens feel older than they really are. Both genders dream about the subject in equal measure once the lights are out, but male and female sex fantasies, even in the land of nod, tend to conform to gender stereotypes.
Toothless is Beautiful: A new generation of psychologists is exploring the way people change what they think and believe in order to achieve peace of mind. Happy birthday, "cognitive dissonance". Some economists have argued that there is no such thing as “pure altruism,” but a new study has spotted it in the brains of students. Economics is often defined as the study of the allocation of scarce resources among competing ends. But adaptation is more important than allocation.
12:00PM
JUN 20 2007
The environment, economics, gender and gay issues
From Rolling Stone, an interview with Al Gore on the fight against the climate crisis. The Earth today stands in imminent peril and nothing short of a planetary rescue will save it from the environmental cataclysm of dangerous climate change. Those are not the words of eco-warriors but the considered opinion of a group of eminent scientists writing in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. An interview with Barry Commoner, the environmentalist from the ’70s who still has hope. Preposterous Prefix Parables: An eco-lexical eco-spasm for the modern eco-age.
From the Mises Institute, can dikes be private? An argument against public goods theory. There is more than meets the eye even to a simple transaction such as buying fish. Martin Wolf on the new capitalism: This modern mutation of capitalism has loyal friends and fierce foes. But both can agree that its emergence is among the most significant events or our time. Why has America produced so many successful young entrepreneurs? Ben Casnocha, 19, author of the new book My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young C.E.O. Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley, offers clues.
Shop ’Til You Drop: More on Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole by Benjamin R. Barber. Twenty Things You Should Know About Corporate Crime: Did you know that corporate crime inflicts far more damage on society than all street crime combined? What vacation days? Despite being one of the richest nations, America denies its workers mandated paid vacations and sick days. Compassionate Capitalism? A review of Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman.
From PopMatters, a review of Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block. Cathy Young reviews The Dangerous Book for Boys. Male sex symbols, silence and snore bores: Do male youths want to be sex symbols? Why do some women dress in an unprofessional way at work and then get mad when men stare? No one talks of "crying burglary": There is no other crime in which a victim is so widely disbelieved as rape.
From Women's Review of Books, a review of The Heart to Artemis: A Writer’s Memoir and The Player’s Boy by Bryher Ashfield and Women Together/Women Apart: Portraits of Lesbian Paris by Tirza True Latimer. A review of Gay Life and Culture: A World History. When we went gay: An excerpt from the new afterword to The Gay Metropolis. Back in the Closet: For Jews, the ex-gay movement should sound eerily familiar. Gay Cure: Things are getting even stranger in the right’s campaign to counsel people out of their homosexuality. Michael Kinsley on The Quiet Gay Revolution: As gays have moved into the mainstream, Republicans have landed on the wrong side of history.
From TAP, The Future of Anti-Gay Activism: The Christian Right is recruiting black pastors to make the case that equating gay rights with civil rights is an affront to African Americans; The Good News for Gay Rights: Victories won by "undemocratic" courts haven't produced the backlash that many pundits expected. The Science of Gaydar: If sexual orientation is biological, are the traits that make people seem gay innate, too? The new research on everything from voice pitch to hair whorl.
12:00PM
JUN 20 2007
Africa, American foreign policy and Democratic politics
From Foreign Policy, the world’s weakest states aren’t just a danger to themselves. They can threaten the progress and stability of countries half a world away. The Failed States Index 2007 is a rank of countries where the risk of failure is running high. Debate on the prospects for continent-wide government in Africa is heating up ahead of the African Union summit that is scheduled to begin June 25, 2007, in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. An article on Bono and the complicated business of caring about Africa. The Americans Have Landed: A few years ago, with little fanfare, the United States opened a base in the horn of Africa to kill or capture Al Qaeda fighters. By 2012, the Pentagon will have two dozen such forts. The story of Africa Command, the American military's new frontier outpost.
From American Diplomacy, a review of America Against the World: How We Are Different and Why We Are Disliked by Andrew Kohut and Bruce Stokes. From Foreign Affairs, Charles A. Kupchan (Georgetown) and Peter L. Trubowitz (UT-Austin): Grand Strategy for a Divided America; a review of Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World by Dennis Ross; Fighting and Funding America's Next Wars: A review of The Price of Liberty: Paying for America's Wars by Robert D. Hormats and Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources.
From Foreign Policy, what happens when you take a 40-year-old CIA memo on losing a war and replace the word “Vietnam” with the word “Iraq”? The result is a set of conclusions that are just as true today. Crises of the middle east, 1914, 1967, 2003: The reverberations of the Iraq war will be as profound for the future of the middle east as were two epic dates in its 20th- century past, says Fred Halliday. The failure of public diplomacy: What the downfall of al-Hurra, America's Arabic language television station, says about US efforts to win hearts and minds in the Middle East.
My Marty Peretz Problem — And Ours: He bought The New Republic in 1974 and sold it this February. In between, he transformed America's most influential liberal weekly: Today, it is no longer as influential, or liberal, or even weekly. The time is waaaaay overdue to create a force of "trench liberals" and "leftnecks" — gun owning progressives who change their motor own oil — persuasive populist grassroots organizers. It'll be hard and they won't be pretty people. Back to the Future: John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira on the re-emergence of the emerging Democratic majority. Dragging Down the Democrats: The electorate is more pro-Democratic in theory than in practice. By quietly re-focusing on traditional values including American spirituality, the Democrats hope to draw enough votes to recapture the White House. When it comes to gun controls, Democrats fall silent. As with many hot-button social issues, they can't figure out how to reach people's emotions. Here's how they can regain their moral compass — and their power of speech.
12:00PM
JUN 20 2007
Literature, books and writing, comedy and celebrities
From Virginia Quarterly Review, shoot the messenger: Dana Goodyear, David Orr, and the Stewards of Poetry; a final antidote: The journals of Louise Bogan; the music of failure: A review of Halflife by Meghan O’Rourke; and a review of Against the Day, by Thomas Pynchon.
From Eurozine, first published in Czech in 1985 by the Toronto-based '68 Publishers, illicitly imported copies of Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being first circulated on a strictly hand-to-hand basis. Now, when it is freely available on the shelves of bookshops, what does it mean to the Czech reader? Twenty-two years later, literary critic Jiri Travnicek discovers a newfound appreciation for Kundera's narration, characterization, and above all wisdom. Labyrinthine plot: In Travels with Herodotus, the late, great Polish writer Ryszard Kapuscinski weaves epic stories into his own reportage to stunning effect, says Stephen Smith (and more). His little slice of evil: A review of Peeling the Onion by Gunter Grass.
It’s dangerous to make predictions: Nicholas Clee on why you can't predict a bestseller. So bad it's good: The bestseller charts are groaning with real-life accounts of neglect, violence and sexual abuse. The worse your childhood, it seems, the more people want to read about it. Have we turned into a nation of ghouls? Esther Addley investigates the remarkable rise of "misery lit". The Inner Lives of Men: Few stories as sad as John Williams’s “Stoner” could be so secretly triumphant, or so exhilarating. Most editors can't or won't write. Few writers can or care to edit. Except for the great David Remnick of The New Yorker. The man's an editing, writing fool. And then there's Cullen Murphy. A look at what authors Annie Dillard and Peter Elbow can teach you about writing.
From PopMatters, a review of Edmund and Rosemary Go to Hell: A Tale of Our Times With (Hopefully) Some Hope for Us All by Bruce Eric Kaplan; and how America's most renowned improv club stays second to none. Surrender Yourself to the Attack of the Comedians: The truth hurts, but in the wake of our welts and bruises, if we've been properly assaulted, we're still laughing. The best comic films of all time: From Buster Keaton to Borat, comedies are the films we love most - and also the hardest to get right. But what is the funniest movie ever? A panel of very funny people name their favourite.
From Forbes, here's the latest Celebrity 100, the annual list of the world's most powerful—and best-paid—celebrities. An article on George Clooney, actor-as-activist. Ron Rosenbaum on The Worst Celebrity Profile Ever Written: Angelina Jolie, "the best woman in the world". Chicks With Flicks: In this—the season of Knocked Up and Entourage—Hollywood has a little woman problem. One producer’s lament for a lost Camelot. The filmmaker who's plunged headfirst into the brutal world of ultimate fighting is David Mamet.
