NB: The title of this post is inspired by a lecture on Gandhi’s ideal of resistance to oppression, delivered by my old friend Professor Bhagwan Josh. Please find below some words of advice to student protestors in the context of the global resistance to genocide. They are also relevant to all of us who resist… Read More Stand Up, Say No
By Kyle Chayka “The power to change one’s life comes from a paragraph, a lone remark,” James Salter wrote in his 1975 novel, “Light Years.” An encounter with a single “slender” line of writing, as he put it, can send a reader spinning off on a new trajectory; her life becomes divided into a before and… Read More The Internet’s New Favorite Philosopher
NB: Notwithstanding the good intentions of Boehm’s speech, the truth remains that Israel is committing genocide, the world is witness to genocide; and the world watches ‘the West’ sacrifice, yet again, its universal principles to imperial self-interest. As another philosopher, Frederic Lorden puts it, ‘The whole world watches Gaza die, and the whole world watches… Read More Universalism in dark times
NB: This essay was published in Outlook magazine on April 11. DS Waiting Are we in a post-ideological age? No, we are submerged in it. The term ‘post-truth’ is merely an example of the impact of ideology on our speech habits. What does it mean? We can approach the meaning of the term ideology by… Read More The Crisis of Ideology
Rouven J. Steeves Introduction: “The Light Shines in the Darkness . . .“ The study of politics presupposes the study of man. The study of man demands we consider the nature of being as ensouled flesh. This leads us into the realm of philosophy and, by extension, given that we are interested in man as… Read More Psychologists of Evil: Nietzsche and Dostoevsky on the Darkness of the Soul
For Bernard Stiegler, a visionary philosopher of our digital age, technics is the defining feature of human experience Bryan Norton It has become almost impossible to separate the effects of digital technologies from our everyday experiences. Reality is parsed through glowing screens, unending data feeds, biometric feedback loops, digital protheses and expanding networks that link… Read More Our tools shape our selves
When viewers are introduced to Abdiwahab Ali, the main character in the short documentary Neighbour Abdi, his charisma radiates from the screen as he showcases his creative metalwork and spins a series of lively potential titles for a film about his life. But viewers soon learn that his easygoing attitude is hard-earned as he recounts his… Read More The unique life philosophy of Abdi, born in Somalia, living in the Netherlands
We look for loneliness inside our heads when its source lies all around us, in the destruction of collective life, the erosion of communal bonds, the ruin of civil society, the squeezing of public spaces. Kenan Malik ‘The hope that political action will gradually humanise industrial society has given way to a determination to survive… Read More We think loneliness is in our heads, but its source lies in the ruin of civil society
Averroes (Ibn Rushd; 1126–1198) was one of the greatest polymaths of the ancient Islamic world, whose practice expanded into philosophy, theology, astronomy, physics, linguistics and more Averroism’, ‘radical Aristotelianism’ and ‘heterodox Aristotelianism’ are nineteenth- and twentieth-century labels for a late thirteenth-century movement among Parisian philosophers whose views were not easily reconcilable with Christian doctrine. The… Read More Who Was Averroes?
The French political philosopher was both mouthpiece and model for the best defense of liberalism. Paul T. Wilford, Ethan Cutler March 01, 2024 NB: The final paragraph of this review contains these lines: ‘As Mark Lilla notes in his preface to Aron’s lecture, the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine may be a wake-up call: “Sometimes it… Read More Raymond Aron’s Liberal Virtues
After the truth-shower 